Impacted Crop

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How to Treat Impacted Crop


You need to flush and empty an impacted crop. You can use an eyedropper, a syringe without a needle, or a child's ear syringe. Be sure to put the dropper or syringe all the way back in the bird's mouth. There is a hole at the base of the tongue that leads to the bird's lungs. You must be way past that or you will damage your bird.

First Treatment

You can start by putting an eyedropper full of vegetable oil into the crop and then massaging the crop. This will soften the impaction. Put the dropper all the way back in the bird's mouth and slowly push out the oil. Any vegetable oil is good: olive oil, corn oil, or canola oil.


  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 1 pint of warm water

Fill the syringe and insert it as far as you can into the mouth of the chicken. Have someone hold the bird upright in front of you. Slowly and very gently fill the crop, do not over fill and get liquid into that hole at the base of the tongue. Gently press up under the chicken's breast and slide your hand up to the crop. This makes the bird open its mouth and the impacted mess will come out the bird's mouth. Push the contents up and out of the crop and out of the mouth. You can face the bird toward the ground to help empty the crop. Repeat this gentle stroking pressure until nothing comes up. If there the crop is not empty, flush it again until it is empty. Once the crop is empty, give another dropper of oil. House the bird away from other birds so it can rest. Provide about a cup of water with 1 teaspoon of Terramycin dissolved in it. Give no feed.

Second Day

If the bird is droopy on the next day, put molasses in the bird's water for about four hours (1/4 cup per gallon of water). Remove the molasses water after four hours and give the bird fresh Terramycin water. The molasses water will flush soured food from the bird's digestive system.

Follow Up Treatment

If the crop impacts again, repeat the flush. Continue the Terramycin for 7 days to avoid secondary infection. After 24 hours, give only soft food for a week or so. This lets the inflamed and irritated crop recover and prevents another impaction. The soft diet can include crumbles and chopped hard-boiled or microwaved eggs. You can feed bread if it is soaked in milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk is especially good because active culture buttermilk has good bacteria in it that help the bird's digestion. You may also use 1 slice brown bread, 1/2 cup buttermilk, and 1/8 cup yogurt with no artificial sweetener, for 5 days. Feed one time the first day, then two times a day for the next 4 days.


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