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Hen has large crop issue - Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sharon Yorks:
I noticed last night that one of my 16 month-old hens had a large ball-shaped crop, so being fairly new at this, I tried searching the Internet for answers. I gather that this is somewhat normal at night, but it didn’t go away by morning like most of the articles said, so now I am a bit concerned that it could be a soured crop (or impacted) that won’t pass on its own. If someone could help shed some light on this, I would really appreciate it. This is what I have done so far:
I’ve taken her food away and put her in a pen by herself, hoping her body would digest more of it. I’ve massaged the lump (it’s a little squishy but firmer than I think it should be – not sure) several times. I just took her out a food mixture of: 4 tbs of plain non-fat yogurt, 1 tbs of apple cider vinegar, & 1 raw egg. I mixed that together. It was a little runny, but after I sprinkled the top with little pieces of egg shells, she dove right in and kept eating. I figured the vinegar and yogurt would help with digestion and the egg would help give her some nutrition and pass easy.
What else can I do? And please tell me if I shouldn’t do what I am doing. She acts okay as far as not being lethargic - I caught it soon, but she sometimes makes a funny neck movement like she’s trying to move the lump or it’s uncomfortable. Any thoughts?
Sharon
greeneggsandham:
Yeah, I\'ve had some experience with impacted or sour crops. I\'ve done two successful crop surgeries over the last few years also.
First, I\'d make sure she is able to pass food. Are her droppings sufficient and normal? Is she losing weight? If her droppings are fine and not losing weight, she likely will be just fine. I have some hens that have what seems to be a permanent mass about golf ball size in their crops. Seems to feel like dough or clay. This doesn\'t seem to bother them and they tend to localize the mass and carry on.
Now, if your hen is losing weight and her crop is the size of a softball and feels like it is full of liquid that doesn\'t go down overnight, that could mean a blockage. I haven\'t had much success with removing blockages except with surgery. If there is not any liquid sitting around in the crop, then you could try to break up that doughy mass over time. You could also try putting a little mineral oil in the crop, then massaging. Her neck movements do mean that she is trying to move that mass or localize it and get it out of the way.
If it doesn\'t feel like clay or doughy, it is likely wadded grass or hay, straw, feather\'s, etc., and you can tell by feeling it. That\'s not likely to pass.
If she is blocked somewhere further down the line, there isn\'t much you can do except try to get plenty of liquids in her to hopefully move the blockage. I had a cockeral once with a lower intestinal blockage. I kept filling his crop with liquids (crop tube) to keep his strength up and after a week this mass was protruding out the other end, which I had to help birth. About 8 inches of wadded hay came out. Needless to say, I no longer raise young ones on hay yet I still get one every year that finds something to block them up. I think I\'m going to increase the feeders in the grow out pen this year and see if it helps.
Mike Gilbert:
I don\'t think I have ever had to deal with this problem. But then I always make sure they have free choice granite grit in front of them, which is needed to grind the food. Sharon, I don\'t think you have much choice except surgery as described above if the crop does not reduce in size over night.
Sharon Yorks:
The lump is about the size of an orange and is more squishy now than it was this morning. Maybe because I\'ve been massaging it a lot. But it hasn\'t gone down any. All she\'s had to eat (I took all of her food away) all day is the liquid yogurt combo I made her this morning and a little more later this afternoon with a little olive oil in it. Would olive oil work the same as mineral oil, and if so, do you just squirt it (how much) down there throat? It\'s snowing real bad right now or I\'d go get some mineral oil.
Her dropping have been very minimal today. This just started a day or two ago, so I caught it very quick. She hasn\'t lost any weight (she\'s the largest and heaviest hen I have) and acts fairly normal. She didn\'t lay today. She IS drinking water. Did you do the surgery for this? What\'s the procedure? Have you ever heard of leaning them forward and trying to work the stuff up and out of their mouth? If you are real familiar with this, maybe (if you wouldn\'t mind) I can talk to you tomorrow on the phone if she isn\'t doing any better. I REALLY don\'t want to lose this one.
Sharon
jeeperspeepers-r4us:
I have had 2 hens do this, The first ate hay and had a compacted crop, I did surgery and pulled out 2 lb of wet hay. It would have never gone through her. The crop was hard like a tennis ball She recovered very nice. The 2nd had squishy crop caused by ph imbalance, I mineral oiled her over & over, to keep food moving. I gave her everything to change the ph that was suggested to do. I also drained it by tubing her over & over. I read on another site to withhold food for 3 day and then put on yogurt only. Every thing I did was to no avail. The crop was huge everyime I let her eat. It stretched out and would not go back to the orginal size. I made a crop bra to hold it up.I think she ate a mouse that caused the problem.
She never recovered to be productive again.
What ever you do, do it quickly, so that it doen\'t stretch out and not go back to size.
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