Unsure of sour or impacted crop

[Jillthechef77]

I live in Massachusetts, I have a Black Australorp that is about 1 years old, over the winter she decided she preferred to be in the nude and plucked her feathers out (I assume stress) of being shut in most days with the snow/ice. She lives with 2 Buff Orpington hens, 2 bantam hens, a bantam rooster, and 2 Wyandotte (1 silver 1 gold laced) Roosters. In the coop there are pine shavings (last is being used up from winter), and there was a heat lamp but i needed it for babies (getting a new one tonight), and there is food and water daily, scratch/bird seed/scraps in the mornings. The flock free ranges in my yard. Lately she has been in what appears to be a broody mood. She stays in the nesting box, struts around like a turkey when she is out to eat/drink and leans forward in the nesting box after kicking all the stuffing out of it. She poops the greyish-green with a little bit of white, it was a very large amount (my guess is the broody behavior) and solid ish to where it stayed intact.

I have now noticed what I assume is her crop, and it seems very large and solid. I am not sure if this is due to her nakedness so it appears larger and out there, or if she has an impacted or sour crop. She does go out to eat some when I open the coop. I check on her throughout the day and move her from the box to the food area as there are no eggs in her nesting box. Please let me know thoughts, I have looked at other posts, but none seem to look similar.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you check her crop early in the morning before she eats or drinks to see if it is emptying overnight. How does it feel tonight? She looks like the others are pulling out her feathers, and possibly eating them. They may do that if they are overcrowded or not getting enough protein in the diet. Corn and scratch are low in protein. They need a balanced layer or all flock feed as 90% of their food, and they can have a tiny treat occasionally of scratch or something else. I would offer the flock some scrambled egg bits or tuna. Look her over for any lice or mites, or something else irritating her skin. Broodies will pull out their chest feathers to make skin contact with eggs to hatch. If her crop is impacted or bothering her, she may peck the feathers on her crop.

 

[Jillthechef77]

@Eggcessive Thank you for your reply! I didn’t disturb her too much tonight, she was still in the empty nesting box. I will check first thing in the morning and report back. They have plenty of coop room. They have layer feed at all times, occasionally a flock block, I will scatter bird seed into the leaves inside their pen area so they can scratch around during the day.

 

[Jillthechef77]

@Eggcessive Thank you for the recommendation! Her crop was empty this morning, I just found her at an odd time and being naked, it scared me. Lately she has been staying in the nesting box and away from the flock so I am hoping her feathers might slowly come back. If not I will get an isolation crate and keep her in the garage away from it all until she is good again.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is good that her crop was empty, so it is functioning. All flock or 20% Flock Raiser feed might be something you may want to use to increase their protein from the 16% layer feed. Giving them seeds to scratch for could further decrease the protein they are eating. I use scratch grains occasionally just in a small amount for a treat, but it and corn or bird seed only have about 7% of protein. If you use an all flock/flock raiser feed of course you would need to put out some crushed oyster shell in a separate container for extra calcium for the ones laying. I also would not separate her away from her flock, but you could separate her within the flock in a wire dog crate. Putting her far away would make it much harder to get her reintegrated back into the flock, and she would be bullied. I would try to determine if she is broody, or if she has been hiding out in the nest box to keep from being bullied or because she is sick, as some hens of mine have done.