Chickens are gifted with a unique anatomical feature: the crop or “craw. ” The crop is the gateway to a chicken’s stomach and a vital element to your chicken’s health. Knowing how to recognize, prevent, and treat crop problems in backyard chickens should be on every chicken keeper’s bucket list. An impacted crop is one such ailment that can be fatal to a chicken if not addressed as soon as possible.
Learn how to recognize and treat crop impaction in your chickens, so you can be ready in case one or more of your chickens suffer from this common health concern.
The crop is an important part of a chicken’s digestive system. Located near the base of the neck, the crop is a pouch that stores food before sending it on to be digested Understanding the crop’s function helps chicken owners ensure their birds stay healthy.
An Overview of the Chicken Digestive System
Chickens, like other birds, have a unique digestive system that allows them to eat quickly and digest later. They don’t have teeth, so they swallow food whole. The chicken’s digestive tract consists of the beak, esophagus, crop, proventriculus, gizzard, small intestine, ceca, cloaca, and vent.
The food goes down the esophagus to the crop after being swallowed. The crop is a storage pouch that holds food. The food is slowly sent to the proventriculus and gizzard, where it is broken down. After that, food goes to the small intestine to be broken down and absorbed.
The ceca are two blind pouches near the end of the small intestine that allow fermentation of plant material. Finally leftover waste material passes through the cloaca and vent to be excreted.
The Role of the Crop
The crop serves a few important functions
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Storage: The crop provides temporary storage for swallowed food and water. Chickens don’t have teeth to chew food into smaller pieces, so they rely on the crop to hold large amounts of food while the rest of the digestive system catches up. This allows chickens to eat faster than they can digest.
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Softening: Food softens as it sits in the crop. This makes it easier for the gizzard to break down the food.
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Moistening: The crop adds moisture to dry food, helping it go down more smoothly.
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Feeding chicks: Mother hens produce a substance called crop milk that they regurgitate from the crop to feed newly hatched chicks before they are ready for solid food. The crop milk contains antibodies and nutrients essential for chick health and growth.
Signs of a Healthy Crop
You can check on your chicken’s crop health by:
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Feeling the crop in the morning before birds eat. The crop should be empty, flat, and firm.
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Watching your chickens eat. The crop should fill up as they swallow food and feel soft and squishy.
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Gently massaging the crop. You may be able to feel the texture of food inside.
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Checking that the crop empties overnight. Food should not still be felt in the morning.
Common Crop Problems in Chickens
While crop issues are relatively rare in backyard chickens, being able to identify and treat them quickly leads to better outcomes. Here are some common crop problems:
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Impacted crop: This happens when something that can’t be digested gets stuck in the crop. Signs include a full, hard crop in the morning.
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Pendulous crop: The crop stretches out of shape and cannot empty properly. The chicken has trouble digesting food.
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A sour crop is an infected crop that has too many bacteria or yeast. The crop has a foul sour smell.
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Crop worms: Parasitic worms that infect the crop. Birds lose weight and may show breathing difficulty.
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Crop stasis: The crop stops functioning and moving food to the digestive tract. Can be life threatening.
Caring For Chickens With Crop Issues
If you notice any signs of illness, isolate the chicken immediately. Provide water but no food to allow the crop to rest and empty. Gently massage the crop to help pass blockages. Contact a vet, as antibiotics or other treatment may be needed. Improve conditions to prevent reoccurrence. Prompt treatment by a knowledgeable poultry owner gives the best chance of recovery.
As a storage pouch that moistens, softens, and temporarily holds swallowed food, the crop allows chickens to eat quickly and digest later. Check your chickens’ crops regularly to catch any problems early. Knowing the signs of impacted or diseased crops enables swift treatment. With proper care and prompt attention, chickens can recover well from most crop issues.
How to Prevent Crop Impaction in Your Chickens
Both impacted crop and sour crop can also be prevented using similar preventative measures. Some specific ways you can prevent impacted crop from becoming a problem:
- Make sure your flock always has free access to their feed to stop them from gorging.
- It is important that your flock has access to grit to help break down tough, fibrous foods.
- Don’t let your pet eat too much long grass, fibrous litter, and other foods that are hard to digest.
Symptoms of Crop Impaction in Chickens
A chicken may not show any immediate symptoms of being unwell until the crop blockage starts to cause emancipation due to lack of nutrition. If the impaction is not dealt with, you may notice symptoms, such as.
- A lack of droppings (poop)
- Not laying egg
- Weakness
The chicken will eventually become sleepy and may even have trouble breathing if the blockage presses against its windpipe.
If you want to figure out what’s wrong with a crop, check to see if it’s properly emptying overnight. To do so, take away your flock’s food and water after they have roosted in the evening.
In the morning, feel the crop of the chicken that you suspect has a crop ailment. If the crop is small, firm, and hard to distinguish, then the crop has emptied properly. If the crop is still large and feels hard or firm, then the chicken has an impacted crop.
Even though sour crop and impacted crop are similar conditions, there are some distinguishing features to help you diagnose one versus the other after you perform the step above. For sour crop, the crop will still feel large, but it will be soft and squishy instead of hard.
Remember that an affected crop can turn into a sour crop. If this happens, the crop will start to feel soft and the chicken’s breath will smell bad.
Draining My Chicken’s Sour Crop
FAQ
What to do with a chicken with a full crop?
You can massage the crop to try to break up the mass and move things along. You can also give her olive oil. If she’s still eating, you can soak some food in it, or you can carefully dose her with it. (See my YouTube video. ) Crop impaction is serious. I’ve done a necropsy on a hen that died from impaction.
Can a chicken survive an impacted crop?
Chickens can live with an impacted crop for a short time – often a few days. If the blockage isn’t cleared, it can lead to starvation, dehydration, or the development of sour crop. In severe cases, a vet may need to perform surgery to remove the blockage.