4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Henslaved]

No need to apologize . Your support and wisdom has been invaluable .

 

Just caught the little monkey eating a few shavings before bed .

[MedusA]

If it's any consolation to know, I went through something similar a couple of years ago with my cuckoo Silkie, Muggle. She had impaction which became sour crop and was poorly for several weeks. She had a combination of starvation and massage then sloppy diet, antibiotics and metacam for ages and then we started reintroducing more solid foods as she recovered. She was left with a huge pendulous crop which needed regular massaging daily for months.

 

Now she still has a swinging crop, but it does empty by itself (most of the time). I still check her every few days and if it feels full, I give her a massage. But on the positive side. She's still here and still enjoying life, with a little extra TLC.

 

Good luck.

[Henslaved]

Thanks MedusA.

 

The most frustrating but I suppose fortunate thing, is that she doesn't seem "poorly". She is still bright eyed, bushy tailed and her normal, feisty hungry little self .

 

Glad to hear your Muggle is still with you .

[laurmurf]

Serious massage action on our 'croppy' girl last night and I managed to compress the blockage into a lump in her crop, syringed 30mls of olive oil into her then tipped her upside down and moved the mass up her throat to her mouth where i was able to pull it out. A mouse-sized mass of leaves, grass, feathers that had formed an effective block for all food to get through her crop.

 

I know there was a risk of choking her and I was as careful as i could be, but when she was heading towards a slow death from starvation I felt it was the only thing to do. Luckily it's worked.... for now.

 

This is the THIRD time I've had to do this same thing with this chicken: he first time it was a mass of grass - so no more free ranging; the second time almost all feathers - assumed that once they'd all finished moulting we'd be okay. She really is impossible - she's just asking to be kept locked up in a sterile eglu run!

[Henslaved]

Wow . Well done

 

Sounds like great nursing skills you have there . I can't even get their beaks open to get a syringe in

 

My Pudding is also barred from FR.

Some hens are their own worst enemy .

[The Dogmother]

Well done Laurie

[Henslaved]

I put Pudding on a diet of garlic powder, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, probiotic yoghurt and acv for 3 days and gradually introduced some sloppy growers pellets into the mixture.

 

For the past 3 days Puddings crop has been full at night and empty in the morning .

 

If she eats alot in one go, her crop swings a bit, but I can cope with that. I'm just glad it's now emptying on its own . Fingers crossed it will stay that way .

[sandyhas3chucks]

I am really struggling with my friends girl...

Just do not know what to do for the best.. feeling a bit depressed over it TBH. seems that this thread is the only real information about on this.

WE have Zantac which is meant to help things get moving through. and have started her on this again. As this is quite an old thread are there any updates?

One of you said no FR but may I ask what sort of run, flooring etc you have.

I currently have this girl in a grass run with restricted eating..

Her "MUM" is takIng her back to the vet on Saturday, there we were thinking when she was flushed and had emptied we would be sort

[Egghead68]

No suggestions but just wanted to say good luck to all three of you. You are all working so hard to solve the problem and it sounds intensely stressful.

[Henslaved]

Sorry to hear about your friends girl sandyhas3chucks. I have no real advice to give . I too was at the end of my tether with it.

 

May be a coincidence but when Pudding had her op to remove the 2 eggs and a crushed one and then had the Suprelorin implant, her pendulous crop was no longer.

 

I think it is still pendulous, just not as noticeable as she doesn't eat as much as she used to now she doesn't lay.

 

Have you tried starving her for 24hrs with just avipro and water to rule out a blockage further down?

[sandyhas3chucks]

thank you henslaved (love the name. just realised significance lol)

Funny you should say that...

as came on here to update...

the vet was away for 5 days but picked up his email and suggested starving again for 24 to 48 hours, which I did,

Her "Mum" took her top see him this morning which was the 48 hours and her crop had almost completely emptied again leaving about a 50p lump of something moveable in her crop, no one is sure if this is part of her internal bits or "something" so vet has given her another large syringe of liquid paraffin and no food at all for 5 hours (again) I should say that she has had nutrition from last Sat to 48 hours ago and her water had Avipro and critical care formula in it.

Next we are to try grain and dried mealworms only, and she has gone home for the day times over the weekend, so I get a break from poo wiping from the crate and topping uo her CC water.

I already have an appointment Monday for acupuncture with my old girl, so can take her or discuss thren.

The other thing was I made a crop bra for her, it was a tad big but she did not mind and it was getting her used to it whilst supporting the hand full that was swinging and gaseous....

It had gone down so much through day 2 that she was able to wiggle out oi it,.

looked like he was standing with her nickers round her ankles

[Henslaved]

The "50p" sized lump in her crop sounds like it could be the blockage. I would give olive oil and try and massage the lump to see if it will break up and may be a few white maggots after the massage..

 

Personally I wouldn't give hard grain I would go for a little probiotic yoghurt laced with lifeguard.

 

Also just to let you know that when I purchased avipro and critical care formula, I was advised not to give them together, but could give them on alternate days, not sure why though .

 

Hope you get her sorted xx.

[The Dogmother]

I'd avoid any grains too as they will only swell up and could exacerbate the problem at this stage.

 

Life-Guard contains lots of nutrients and probiotics too, so is good for this. You don't really need to give Avipro if you're giving Critical Care formula, but do save it to add to their water or porridge if you have an ailing hen.

 

A little scrambled egg with Life-Guard is good.

[sandyhas3chucks]

she is not with me at the moment, however the grain is very very very controlled only a little at a time and spaced out. the reason being that it was indeed (I believe from the poo photo) the remainder of original blockage, and the feeling is that something solid rather than liquid might push through any remaining. though just where it was is a mystery as her crop was empty flat after flushing and 5 hours of just water.

With hindsight, perhaps 24/48 hours of water may have just cleared it the first time.

The food issue is also tiny meals to allow the muscles of the crop to maybe perhaps recover....

I will update as I get them, as this is such a useful thread, for us all...

[The Dogmother]

That sounds OK Sandy, although bear in mind that the crop doesn't have any proper muscles; as I've said it's just a sac of tissue rather like an empty balloon. When it has become distended through regular gorging or blockages, it will stay 'saggy' and more prone to over-filing or not emptying properly.

 

Sorry, just noticed a typo made little sense like that!

Edited August 7, 2012 by Guest

[sandyhas3chucks]

ok?? ....

1) I do think it will always be saggy at least a bit for sure.. and not sure how one can manage it if she continues to be an over eater..

2) I am trying to understand this crop sac/ muscle...

Wilma one if my ex bats ate HUGE amounts I thought she would have a saggy crop but didn't though sometimes she was not totally empty in the mornings.

But help me out here please.

Food _ beak - crop- gizzard and ehrn though to poo

Crop a storage area (as in nature need to eat lots incase preadator comes?)

Then it has to go through the proventiculas (Sp?) into the gzzard for grinding.

How does the food get passed through, is there some sort of muscular action or is it just like the way water goes through a slightly blocked sink???

I get the fact that it might always be weak if it is overstretched.. and shame it was not fully emptied sooner..

But there must be some sort of elasticity in any crop as wouldn't they all be like an empty bag in the mornings?

Is it also a case that if she is ok now it does seem to be passing through normally that she might need a crop bra to actually survive???

I have read a few things, one recovered but also had been implanred to prevent laying anyway and therefore her natural appetite reduced.

Others need to keep emptying as they keep going sour (not very good )

I have seen an exbat actually that has had a pendulous crop since they got her a year ago... but does that awful neck clearing movement all the time,

pains me to see that but read that a vet reassured someone that it did not bother the chicken???? (not sure about that!)

hope you have some answers for me xx

[Henslaved]

This may or may not help, it's about turkeys, but poultry is poultry to me .

 

http://www.hybridturkeys.com/en/Hybrid%20Resources/~/media/Files/Hybrid/Hybrid%20Library/Health/Health_PC1.ashx

 

I found it interesting anyway .

[The Dogmother]

There is a difference between 'elasticity' and 'muscles'; the crop is like a bag or pouch which has a criss-cross of fibres which hold it firm but will stretch and distend much as a balloon will if it is blown up several times or the tummy of a woman who has had lots of babies!). If you dissect a chicken, or gut one for the table then you will see just how thin the crop wall is. The gizzard on the other hand is a walnut -sized organ with thick muscular walls about the thickness of my little finger - so just under a centimetre - this is usually full of grit and partially ground-down food. Think of it like a cement mixer full of bricks

 

The crop can become pendulous for a few reasons; it could be due to just a lack of tone and a bit of over-eating, gorging with food or a blockage further down the digestive system causing the whole thing to back up.

 

If it were my hen (which it isn't) I'd treat it a couple of times and try to restrict feed a bit, but I'm afraid that if it kept occurring then I'd euthanase the hen as it's quality of life won't be too good.

 

Henslaved, I can't open your link here for some reason - i'm away so it may be a firewall on the server this end. I'll have a look at it another time.

[sandyhas3chucks]

This may or may not help, it's about turkeys, but poultry is poultry to me .

 

http://www.hybridturkeys.com/en/Hybrid%20Resources/~/media/Files/Hybrid/Hybrid%20Library/Health/Health_PC1.ashx

 

I found it interesting anyway .

thanks opened for me.

and thanks DM ... early days yet to see if when or how often this recurs... and not mine either so thankfully not a decision I will have to personally make..

certainly a learning experience.