Stories or Problems: Crop Impaction

Chicken digestive system showing crop.
Credit: Sunshineconnelly Permission: CC-BY-3.0
via Wikimedia Commons

Daffy got crop impaction earlier this year. This means that she got some grass stuck in her crop, creating a blockage so that no food can get through. The crop is where the food is stored before going into the gizzard, which is like a muscular "sack" where the food gets ground up. You can feel the crop under the feathers.

Look for: Your bird may do strange neck movements, look tired or dull, stop laying, or become thin. They are likely also to stop eating as much.
 These are all signs but they may not show any of them, or they could be caused by something else. The safest way to know is to check all your birds regularly. Feel the crop and if it feels hard. Check the next morning as by this time if they have't got it they should have digested all their food. If the crop is empty then it is ok, but if it is still full please follow the advice below..

Treatment: Pour a couple of teaspoons of olive-oil down the bird's throat, and massage the crop gently to loosen it up. Hold the bird upside down by the legs and again massage the contents of the crop out. Be careful not to choke her/him! It is best if you can hold the bird's bill open also. The contents should look a little like sick. If you manage to get most of it out and loosen up the contents still inside then you may have solved the problem. Check the next morning straight when you let them out of the coop (take out any food inside the coop so that there is nothing to eat in the early morning/night. If the crop feels empty when you feel it you can be quite sure that it is sorted. If not you will need to repeat the process. If after a few days of this there is no sign of it clearing up you should take them to the vet immediately as the bird will starve to death.

Prevention: Do not use long straw or hay in the coop or run, but chopped is fine. If they have access to grass keep it as short as possible. Do not let them eat string (which they will do!).


I first noticed that Daffy had crop impaction when she was doing strange neck movements (I can't describe them, but you'll notice anything odd). I checked her crop and it was hard, so I did everything mentioned in the treatment section above: massaged, tipped her upside down, gave her olive oil... none of it worked. She stopped laying. She got thinner and thinner. At last I phoned the vet. He confirmed that she had crop impaction and did basically the same thing as I did. He even tried flushing it out with water. After two visits back to the vet there was nothing for it but to do the operation. I hadn't realised this was possible. We took Daffy in early and left her with him. I couldn't concentrate on anything all day.. He hadn't done the operation before, and there was a good chance she wouldn't make it through anyway. I really thought I'd lost her. Then, in the afternoon we got a telephone call. She had made it! We went straight away to pick her up. She looked a little stunned but otherwise fine. When we got her back she just ATE, then slept. She was kept in the conservatory for a few days before going back with the others. She has now fully recovered and is again acting normally. :)