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[Sokokomo]

Hi all - Sorry to post what is probably such a repeated question but would like some tailored advice!

I have a Black rock hen who I got at POL in April, so around 8 months old now. She had been laying well and all seemed well until she went broody. This only lasted for 4 days, during which time she continued to lay for 2 of the days, but has since been off lay. She began to do a sort of 'dance' after this which had me puzzled for quite a while, I thought it might be related to her being broody, or a ritual dance or something similar, so I didn't check her over for a week or 2 weeks of her doing it occasionally.

Upon closer inspection however it appears she is moving her head and neck around to try and dislodge an impacted crop! Unbeknown to me it was the wrong thing to move them to the woodland area which has lots of long and dead grass. So classic signs and unfortunately an uncomfy hen!

The mass is around tennis ball sized, hard and not going down overnight. She is however eating her layers pellets fine, and producing poos normally (albeit slightly smaller than the other two, but she is a much smaller hen). She has always been thin, and I can prominently feel her keel bone, always have done despite food ad lib.

Started about 10 days ago with the olive oil and massage treatment 3 times a day, no luck there. Moved onto the maggot treatment! Still won't budge. She seems fine in herself, bright, and despite not wanting to come and greet me anymore (must have been the syringe!) I wouldn't know anything was wrong.

She hasn't laid since being broody which was about 6 weeks ago. Around the same time as the impaction started I believe, so I'm not sure if its her feeling uncomfortable or still not returned to lay after broodiness.

What more can I do for the crop? If she seems fine in herself would you leave it? Food is obviously still going through and around the blockage...is this good enough? I have some apple cider vinegar which I'm going to try today. Should I give a more concentrated version to her or just the normal dilution for everybody?

Is she likely to be off lay because of the crop or the broodiness?

Sorry for the long post. Just wondered if anyone had been through this before without the hen looking off-colour! Most of the stuff I'm reading the hens are at death's door with it.

Thanks in advance,

Sokokomo

[Tweety]

It sounds as if you have been doing all the right things but, as they have had no effect, I would take her to a vet. 10 days is quite a long time for her to be like this, and I would be concerned about her weight loss if the situation were to continue.

 

If all else fails, you could resort to surgery but a vet would be able to advise you best.

 

Good luck with her.

[mimi5]

Hi I would reccomend you get her to a vet asap. I like you didn't realise that one of my pekin bantams had an impacted crop until she was looking a bit unkempt and thin (she had been re-homed to me and came looking a bit wind beaten!!) They are SO good at looking "busy & normal" until they really can't!!! Unfortunately, for me she had been laying right up until I took her to the vet, eating and & pooping (kept her in overnight and discovered that her full crop didn't fully go down)

 

The vet was lovely and they tried to flush out her crop but this didn't work She was in their opinion too weak to under go surgery so reccomended she be put to sleep The vet did say that she may have had an underlying crop weakness and even if she had under gone surgery may have had further crop issues.

 

I DO hope your hen has a better out come than my Mary!!!! You can only give them your best shot!

 

Best wishes

[Egghead68]

I agree she needs a vet as home treatments have failed.

[brown rodent]

Hi Sokokomo

We have a similar situation with our hen. We got a couple of new chicks at POL a few weeks ago to integrate with our existing 2 chickens. After a couple of days we noticed one of them (Penny) had an impacted crop and was doing the neck thing. It is about the size of a small grapefruit to the size of a tennis ball. We're pretty sure it is from eating straw as we noticed her pulling the nest apart and eating bits of straw on the ground. None of our other hens have ever been remotely interested in eating the straw. Anyway we've been doing all the usual treatments - apple cider vinegar, maggots, yoghurt, garlic, massage. Her crop went sour last week so we were making her sick to get the sour fluid up but it didn't shift the mass. It went back to being just hard once we got the sourness under control. She is still eating and pooing and seems very lively and interested in everything (even managing to break into the veg patch!). This has now been going on for 2 and a half weeks. She is quite thin but she is still a young chick. We sought advice from our local poultry centre who were really helpful (www.thornespoultrycentre.co.uk). They advised to just keep on with what we are doing and eventually it'll pass. I appreciate others opinions that they should be taken to a vet but from what our nearest vets who deal with chickens say, they would either give the chicken fluids to keep it going until they pass it naturally or do a crop operation to remove the mass. This would involve a general anaesthetic so it is risky in itself - risk of the chicken not coming round from the anaesthetic, trauma, risk of infection or it just not resolving the issue (let alone the cost). Therefore we have decided as our Penny is still doing well to just help keep her going until she can pass it. We're giving her vitamins in her water and feeding her a garlic clove a day (seems the best way to keep it from going sour) and hand feeding her to make sure she's eating properly. I have noticed that there has been some stringy straw in some of her droppings - so something is shifting.

It would be good to hear how your chicken is doing Sokokomo and if she passed it naturally. Also how long have others chickens taken to pass their impacted crop without surgery?

Good luck - brown rodent

[pullusleggus]

Hi there. I have a chicken who has had an impacted crop for about a year! She is my healthiest chicken, even missing the coccidiosis outbreak a few months back. My vet, a chicken keeper himself had recommended starving her for 24 hours but when that failed and she remained very well I just kept an eye on her. She couldn't be more well otherwise.

[hopingforchickens]

I was just about to post about one of mine who has an impacted crop, will start home treatment today. Hope yours starts to get better soon.

[hopingforchickens]

Can I ask a quick question, I've just given Tallulah some olive oil and massaged her crop - she quite liked it!!! But how much am I supposed to give her and how hard and for how long should I massage? Also which yoghurt should I buy? Sorry for gatecrashing your post

[brown rodent]

Make sure you buy natural live yogurt. You want the probiotic friendly bacteria. You can massage her crop quite firmly but remember it is still an organ so not that hard! Probably not the best explanation! I can't advise on how much oil though as I've not done that. We found garlic was the best to stop her crop going sour. 1 clove crushed a day - she eats it happily no problem. Hope that helps. Good luck with it.

[hopingforchickens]

Thanks for the advice, do you just give the crushed clove on it's own?

[UKMARCH]

Hi, I had a hen with this too but she was looking really unwell and the crop was not that huge, I used olive oil and massage twice a day for a couple of days then switched to liquid paraffin, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I read somewhere that the liver struggles to cope with too much oil. Then she ate lots and lots of live maggots and it gradually loosened and now she looks great hasn't laid since though but does pretend by going into the nest box and announcing from time to time!

[sandyhas3chucks]

Yes you are correct in ranging to liquid paraffin. My vets have used ten mls, however especially if a physical blockage or solid it will not be able to pass on through. Flushing till empty worked initially on my friends . However she now has other complications . Yeast infection and or bacterial. We did all the normal stuff and she keeps filling up with fluid or mucus, and we are all pulling our hair out.

we are under the vets and are on medication to cover all fungal. five days now am thinking after researching yet more that an antibiotic to cover a bacterial cause might be needed.

Solids pass through. but she balloons still and neck jerks.

Another possibility is still a physical blockage like a piece of plastic?

the constant not emptying may be a result not a cause ?????

Was going to post for advice, but probably not now eh?

[hopingforchickens]

So where do I get liquid paraffin from?! Tallulah seemed a lot better today, even laid an egg, but it is still firm and enlarged, will have a better idea tonight when I compare her 24 hours on...

[UKMARCH]

You can get it at pharmacies although some do not stock it at least locally to me and the pharmacy attached to our surgery looked at me like I was mad and said they only sold it in an ointment as it was old fashioned and dangerous if you inhaled it! I could have got some from the vet at around £7-8 but I got it in the end at a Rowlands and it was only £1.05 a bargain.

[hopingforchickens]

Thanks I'm guessing it's not the stuff you use to light bbqs with... or is it?!

[sandyhas3chucks]

Noooo my local Lloyds pharmacy sells their own brand very cheap

[hopingforchickens]

Noooo my local Lloyds pharmacy sells their own brand very cheap

 

Didn't think so! Will try and hunt some down tomorrow, on a plus her crop was nowhere near as full and hard tonight as it was last night. She seems to have developed a taste for olive oil though, practically standing on the nest box with her mouth open!!!