d78 The Diseases of Animais 
amount of dry indigestible grass. The same condition 
is often brought on by feeding them grass in large 
quantities when they are not used to it. This dry grass 
remains in the chicken’s crop as a hard undigested mass 
that is likely to cause death. 
The best plan is to give the chicken a tablespoontul 
of sweet oil, or as much as it can be forced to 
swallow. The gullet must then be held between the 
fingers to keep the oil from working up, while the mass 
in the crop is manipulated, broken up and mixed with 
the oil. This may be repeated two or three times daily 
until the chicken is relieved. Some of the grass can 
be removed by working it up the gullet and out of 
the mouth. Water can be injected with a hypodermic 
syringe as recommended for choking. 
When it is not possible to relieve the chicken in 
this manner, the crop may be cut open, the contents 
removed, and the crop sewed up with catgut, taking 
the stitches close together. The skin should be closed 
with a separate set of stitches. After the operation, the 
chicken should have nothing but milk or other liquid 
food for a week, or until the crop has healed. Unless 
the fowl is a valuable one, it is seldom worth the 
bother of an operation and after-treatment. 
