Taking care of a bird is a job in itself, maintaining the health of your tiny pet is an important part of taking care of the bird. If you’re taking care of a bird that is suffering from an impacted crop you’d need to release the blockage yourself.

The crop is an important part of the bird’s digestive system, an impacted crop can do a lot of harm to the bird in the long term. A variety of treatment methods are available to you, some say olive oil is one of them, but is this correct?

Can an impacted crop be treated with olive oil? This article looks into it

Olive oil can definitely be used to treat an impacted crop. To do this, warm up some olive oil and add the warm oil into a syringe. Proceed to syringe the oil, drop by drop, into the side of the bird’s throat and massage the crop to break up the blockage. 

Treating an impacted crop with olive oil

The crop is an organ where birds store food before it moves down the digestive system into the proventriculus and gizzard (the birds two stomaches).

Keeping food in the crop allows the bird to eat food quickly and quickly leave the area, this is helpful if the area is dominated by predators. 

An impacted crop develops when food becomes blocked in the bird’s crop and cannot move down naturally. In this case, you would need to move the food along yourself. One good way to do this is to use olive oil.

To do this, warm up some olive oil and add the warm oil to a syringe.  Once you’ve secured your bird, syringe the olive oil into the side of the bird’s throat to lubricate it. When syringing, be sure to drip the oil in, only drip 5 to 10 ml of olive oil into the bird’s throat.

Do not forcefully squirt the olive oil into the birds mouth, this can lead to some oil being accidentally forced into the birds lungs. Wait 10 minutes before moving on to the next step 

Once the throat is lubricated, you can gently massage the throat as a way to dislodge some of the food. This massage can be done three times a day. When massaging, it is very important that you massage upwards and in a gentle way. The oil and the massage will break up the blockage and allow it to pass through the bird 

If the blockage in the crop extends into the proventriculus, the bird will die if it does not get the correct treatment. If the blockage is not dislodging and there is no movement after 24-36 hours then you would need to take the bird to see a vet.

The vet may need to perform surgery on the bird to remove the blockage 

How do I clear an impacted crop?

Another way to clear an impacted crop is to feed the bird white maggots. White maggots will eat away at the blockage without harming the bird.

You can also use pinkies, these will do the same thing.

Avoid using coloured maggots as the dye used to colour these maggots are toxic to birds  

Will an impacted crop clear itself?

If your bird gets to a stage where it’s crop becomes impacted, and leaving the bird without food and water for 24-36 hours does not cause the crop to empty, then the impacted crop will not clear itself.

It is then up to you as a bird owner to clear the crop 

Does apple cider vinegar help treat sour crop?

Yes, apple cider vinegar does help treat sour crop. Sour crop happens when food stuck in the crop ferments and an overgrowth of the candida fungus develops.

Apple cider vinegar is an antifungal, this product can be diluted with water then fed to birds to treat sour crop. In fact, vets suggest giving your bird apple cider vinegar in the early stages of sour crop as a way to prevent you from having to take the animal to a vet. 

Note: The apple cider vinegar that should be given to birds to treat sour crop is not the type that is sold in supermarkets for human consumption. The type that is appropriate for birds suffering from sour crop is the type that is sold for horses.

This type can be found in farm shops, online or at equestrian centres

Conclusion 

In conclusion, olive oil can definitely be used to treat an impacted crop in birds.

To clear the blockage you’d need to syringe some warm olive oil into the side of the bird’s throat and gently massage the crop to dislodge the blockage.

The impacted crop can also be treated with white or pinky worms. Apple cider vinegar can be used to treat sour crop

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other crop related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Do crows have a crop?, Sour crop in pigeons, how this happens, Sour crop treatment: apple cider vinegar, effective or harmful, Is sour crop contagious?, Antibiotics for sour crop, are they needed?, Sour crop medication, safe and effective ways to cure your bird, Baking soda for sour crop, does it work?