Occasionally the crop becomes impacted or ’backed up’ (crop impaction, also referred to as crop binding or pendulous crop). This may occur when chickens go a long time without feed. This will cause the chickens to eat too much too fast when the feed becomes avail- able again. A crop may also be-
come impacted in a chicken that is free-ranged on a pasture of tough, fibrous vegetation. Crop impaction can also result when the chickens eat a long piece of string. With a crop impaction, even if a chicken continues to eat, the feed cannot get past the impacted crop. There is very little that can be done to treat a chicken with pendulous crop.