What should an empty crop feel like?

jennigrey · #1 02/28/12, 09:46 PM

We have a Wyandotte hen. A year old. She has always been more calm, laid-back and quiet than the rest of our chickens (different breeds). I don't know how she does it but somehow she is top of the pecking order. I have never seen her get rough with anyone but they all yield to her.

Because she is SO calm and SO quiet, we sometimes wonder if she's maybe not quite right. She isn't very energetic, isn't much of a forager and prefers her food to come straight from the feeder rather than having to peck around for it or - heaven forefend - chase it down.

She is occasionally seen to be making akward motions with her head and neck - working feed down into her crop, we think. She does tend to gorge herself in the late afternoon. A couple of days ago we noticed that she was making those sideways neck motions more than usual and looked a bit withdrawn. We put her in a cage by herself and kept her from feed for a day and a half. Her large, hard crop is now maybe golf ball sized or a bit less and very spongey.

After no feed for a day and a half, it seems that her crop should be empty. When I withold feed from the turkeys for butchering, their crop is completely gone and so hard to locate that just before slaughter I give them a handfull of dry cob to make it easier to remove the crop.

Am I correct in thinking that something is going on with this hen's crop? It shouldn't still be this substantial after a day and a half of no feed, should it?

oregon woodsmok · #2 02/29/12, 06:52 PM

I know that chickens can get an impacted crop. Since I don't have chickens, I haven't paid much attention. I think you feed them a couple of drops of cooking oil and massage the crop.

You'll need to get information from someone else. Basically, I am giving you a bump.

My only advice is to make sure the chickens have access to good grit and don't feed things that are tough or stringy. Apparently, dry hay is a common cause of impacted crop.

jennigrey · #3 02/29/12, 11:59 PM

Hay in the crop has been a concern of ours, as we do use hay in the nest boxes. We feed the rascals free-choice layer pellets, free-choice oyster shell, free-choice granite grit, a cup or two of scratch each morning, assorted scraps and treats including an alfalfa mash once a week or so, yet a few of them still insist upon eating from the "salad bar" (row of nest boxes). This hen is not one of the salad bar girls, though. At least, not that we have seen. Thanks for the bump!

I wonder what hay or straw in the crop would feel like.

barnyardgal · #4 03/01/12, 05:47 AM

If the hen still has a bulge after withholding feed-then she probably has an impacted crop-
You can use the oil massage like Oregon said but i never had no luck with that,was always afraid of getting it in the lungs-which i did one time & the hen died...
You can you tube/google crop surgery to see how the surgery is done if ya want to go that route-have had good luck with crop surgery myself-
Good luck!!

DTChickens · #5 03/01/12, 11:22 AM

It may be an impacted crop, you said you took away feed. Did you take away water also? Sometimes a bird just drinks a lot of water and it appears golf ball sized (or they completely fill it up if they have been deprived or have an issue) which should give it a rather squishy/spongy feeling as you described. Usually if it is a impacted crop it is more firm.

Here is a link though on an impacted crop, it doesn't mention a surgery but surgery is the more common route as it is usually the necessary option to save ones bird. http://www.ultimatefowl.com/wiki/ind...=Impacted_Crop

Have you checked to see if the bird's mouth smells any? That is a symptom of sour crop (which is basically the same as impacted crop, just the feed/bedding has began to ferment and the bacteria usually causes a foul smell) and to my understanding I believe is usually more spongy and only requires a slow emptying of the crop. Treatment is generally the same, oil massage or surgery.

God bless,
Daniel.

jennigrey · #6 03/01/12, 11:29 AM

There is a bulge but it is soft and spongey. It isn't impacted to the point of blockage; the hen is still keeping fairly good weight. Eating and pooping. I guess it could be hay, straw or wood shavings. Or perhaps an inorganic object like a wisp of hay twine. I guess I will withold feed from another hen for a similar period of time and see what her crop feels like in comparison.