Home › Livestock Farming › Article

Prevention and Treatment of Hard Crop Disease in Chickens

Livestock Farming 0 views
Hard crop disease in chickens, also known as crop impaction, is caused by the crop being filled with food that accumulates and blocks the second esophageal opening below the crop, preventing food from reaching the proventriculus for digestion. It can occur in both adult chickens and chicks, with the latter being more common. I. Causes. It is mainly caused by chickens eating large amounts of feathers, string ends, dry hard indigestible feed, and large hard food items. II. Symptoms. The crop of the affected chicken is noticeably swollen and hard, the bird is depressed, eats little or stops eating, and in severe cases the sick chicken shows difficulty breathing, the comb and wattles turn purple, and finally

Hard crop disease in chickens, also known as crop impaction, is caused by the crop being filled with food that accumulates and blocks the second esophageal opening below the crop, preventing food from reaching the proventriculus for digestion. It can occur in both adult chickens and chicks, with the latter being more common.

I. Causes. It is mainly caused by chickens eating large amounts of feathers, string ends, dry hard indigestible feed, and large hard food items.

II. Symptoms. The crop of the affected chicken is noticeably swollen and hard, the bird is depressed, eats little or stops eating, and in severe cases the sick chicken shows difficulty breathing, the comb and wattles turn purple, and finally dies from digestive and respiratory obstruction.

III. Preventive measures. Strengthen feeding management, rationally balance the feed, feed at fixed times and in fixed amounts, ensure adequate drinking water, and promptly remove foreign objects from the coop and the exercise yard.

IV. Treatment methods.

① Purgative method: Administer or inject 2 to 10 milliliters of edible vegetable oil into the crop, then gently massage the crop from top to bottom to soften the accumulated food and promote its downward passage.

② Flushing method: When the crop impaction is not too severe, flush with warm normal saline or cool boiled water. The method is to use a long-nosed bulb syringe inserted from the beak into the pharynx, inject water directly into the crop to expand the food, gently knead the crop with the hand so that the accumulated food in the crop mixes with the water into a thin liquid, then hold the chicken upside down and gently press the crop so that the thin liquid is discharged from the esophageal opening. Repeat several times; after the crop is emptied of accumulated food, administer half a tablet of oxytetracycline, let the chicken rest for half an hour, and then begin feeding a small amount of easily digestible feed.

③ Surgical method: That is, incise the crop and remove the hard food inside. The method is: after plucking feathers and disinfecting at the surgical site, make an incision at the upper middle part of the crop, remove the accumulated food, suture with needle and thread, disinfect or apply ichthammol ointment, and it is done. For 2 to 3 days after surgery, feed easily digestible feed to promote rapid recovery.

Related Articles