Last year one of the Isa Brown pullets I bought had a problem with her crop. It seemed to empty much more slowly than the other chicks'. But I kept her around, named her Dolly Parthen. She's mostly had a good life. Every once in a while her crop will get WAY big. Then I separate her from the others (and the food) for a while and it goes down and she seems to feel better.

Today she was outside looking kind of listless. I picked her up and indeed her crop was huge. I turned her over, and all kinds of stinky liquid drained out.

Now I have her isolated with water, yogurt, and grit available to her. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions? I'm not up to the "surgery" some sites suggest, slitting open her crop and cleaning it out. But any other supportive measures I could take, I'm game for those.

Thanks.

--Johanna

Here is a link that might be useful: My place: Busy Solitude Farm