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Author Topic: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop  (Read 2454 times)

kernow64

  • Joined Dec 2016
  • Brecknockshire
Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« on: April 09, 2018, 07:34:29 pm »
Hi All,

We have been keeping hens for around nine months now and recently made the mistake of commenting on how healthy and happy all our hens were looking - they were bought at POL so are about a year old now and I guess in their prime.

The hens are free-ish ranging, they have a 50 metre length of chicken wire which gets moved around a small field. Other than what they scratch up, they get fed layers pellets and finely chopped veg scraps and small amounts of corn to get them in at night. The run has not been moved recently so unlikely to be any long grass accessible although there is some hay which is used as bedding in the nest box but I’ve not been aware of any of them eating it.

They have had access to grit but seem to prefer kicking it around to eating it.

Egg production dropped off slightly over winter but even during the coldest weather (we were snowed in for 9 days), we averaged significantly better than an egg every other day.

Yesterday, I spotted that one of the bluebells was looking unhappy - head tucked in and feathers puffed out and when I picked her up, I found that her crop was very distended (fist sized) and missing quite a few feathers. I may have imagined it but one of the other hens may have had a peck at the crop as I grabbed the bluebell but it might just have been the confusion.

Having consulted by book on chicken keeping and watched various Utube vids, I squirted a couple of 6ml syringes of cider vinegar down her through and spent 15 minutes massaging the crop which loosened up quite a bit and felt more like a bag of wet sand with lumps in it than anything fibrous.

After upending her and massaging her some more we were rewarded with some grey/green gunk but probably not much more than we had put down her throat.

We isolated her and left her overnight with water but no food and this morning, the crop was still very distended. Tried the same routine, this time with olive oil with similar results - none of the Utube vids seem to show much more fluid coming out and the crop seems to be more grapefruit than apple sized so if the contents are going to move up rather than down, there is a lot to shift.

Mrs K spoke to the vet who recommended carrying on with what we are doing and offering her some moistened pellets if she would take them.

The hen is clearly not happy but has has a bit of a go at the pellets and has passed some small amounts of rather oily looking poop. She has fairly stoically endured the squirting, massaging and upending and although not right is still on her feet and functioning. She is still isolated so we can see what goes in and comes out.

I’m happy to carry on with this routine for as long as need be but would be grateful for some advice on how long it is likely to take to show some results and how long the bird can stay in this state before deteriorating significantly.

I’m not up for any DIY surgery but would consider taking her to the local vet whose rates (judging by what we paid to get our cat fixed up after an infected bite) although obviously likely to me more than the cost of a replacement bird, are very reasonable, although she was certainly not angling for the job.

Sorry for the long post but wanted to cover all the background - any advice would be very welcome.

Many thanks,

K


Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2018, 08:49:06 am »
A couple of my birds have had sour crop in the past - one was a dominant bird that had, for some unknown reason, pigged out on a Brussels sprout stem that I hung in the house to keep them amused in bad weather.  We treated her successfully using the method you describe.  The other was an older bird and the sour crop kept returning so I ended up culling her.

kernow64

  • Joined Dec 2016
  • Brecknockshire
Re: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2018, 09:13:54 am »
A couple of my birds have had sour crop in the past - one was a dominant bird that had, for some unknown reason, pigged out on a Brussels sprout stem that I hung in the house to keep them amused in bad weather.  We treated her successfully using the method you describe.  The other was an older bird and the sour crop kept returning so I ended up culling her.

Thanks very much for the reply.

I’ve checked on her this morning and the crop is still the size of a grapefruit and pretty solid. She seems fairly alert and seems to have eaten the soggy pellets I gave her last night but not much poop.

How many times a day am I supposed to be using the olive oil, massaging and upending remedy - she has been very stoic but I’m sure that it is very stressful.

How long can I expect it to yield results - whatever it is in there seems unlikely to shift upwards.

Many thanks.




chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2018, 12:44:07 pm »
Sour crop develops with time, when an impaction isn't cleared, so unless her breath smells there is no need for the vinegar. Any feed will simply make the situation worse so just give her water only and lightly massage the crop until soft. It may take a few days to clear it and during that time she will need to be isolated and certainly not allowed to eat. If it doesn't clear her digestive system is blocked further down and that is unlikely to clear unfortunately.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2018, 01:15:39 pm »
I agree.  Don't add any more feed until the impacted material has cleared.  If she's in good condition she should be able to cope with a couple of days without feed.  Small amounts of measured feed at intervals.  In my experience once the crop has expanded that much it's a bit like an overstretched elastic band and never quite recovers.

kernow64

  • Joined Dec 2016
  • Brecknockshire
Re: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2018, 04:52:53 pm »
Thanks both.

It was the vet who over the phone who suggested feeding soggy pellets but I agree that if she needs to purge whatever is blocking the crop, the less additional solids the better.

She is on her own with just water now.

I spent over half an hour this morning massaging the crop but did not upend her. It certainly softened up a bit and she has done a few poops.

I’ll have another go this evening and see if it has gone down a bit by morning.

Thanks again!

kernow64

  • Joined Dec 2016
  • Brecknockshire
Re: Help please for hen with impacted/Sour Crop
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2018, 08:43:27 pm »
Several days of massaging and upending made no real difference to the size of impacted crop so took her to the vets.

Vet happy to do the op for not much more than the cost of replacing her and she is back with the other girls scratching around as if nothing had happened.

Crop was full of long grass which is a bit of a mystery as the birds have scratched the part of the field they have access to pretty bare - must have been either reaching long grass outside the wire or gorging herself on one of the occasional escapes.

Either way will be running the mower over the field before moving the fence.

Thanks for all advice.

A happy ending and lessons learned - she owes us a few eggs now!  :)



 

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