The crop of the chicken is it’s “holding compartment” of food until there’s room in the gizzard for crushing of the foods with grit stones.
An impacted crop can happen for a number of reasons, but the usual cause is chickens browsing on grasses that are too long. The grasses stored in the chicken’s crop get all balled up and clog the whole system up eventually causing malnutrition and even death.
How to avoid? Make sure there’s always adequate water, Don’t feed you chickens lawn clippings, Keep an eye on their body shape. If you see a lump forming act sooner rather than later.
What to do: force some water down the chicken’s throat with a syringe, about 10cc. Then massage the crop firmly until you feel the contents breaking up. Now hold the chicken upside down while massaging the crop contents encouraging them up the throat and out the mouth. The contents of the crop will eventually come out with perseverance. If the impaction is too big, simple surgery can be performed.
There’s some great videos on youtube for visual aids.
