sour smell coming from the beak of a nine week chick

Hello, I have read a lot about sour crop and do not think this is the issue. We have one of our Isa Brown chicks who is about 9 weeks old. Since quite some time ago, she seems to have a very strange smell coming from her beak. I would describe it as a sour grain smell. She eats what all the other 5 chicks eat, (chick starter, medicated feed), acts normal, and is quite sweet in personality. Her crop is never full and she seems to be pooping fine. This is my son's chick, he is 6 YO, and he does not like to holder because she stinks. What could be wrong, and what can we do about this? It is quite noticeable, and as I said, none of the others have that odor.

Thanks,

Beth

That really does sound like sour crop as opposed to impacted crop. Sour crop is an infection (usually a fungus) in the crop. The crop can be infected even if it is emptying normally.

The cure is to isolate the bird and let it have only vinegar water for 12-24 hours. The ratio should be about 2 Tb/ gallon, but make sure the hen will still drink it. That will kill the infection. Then you start feeding yogurt to replentish the good bacteria. Then the hen may have other soft foods.

There is a respiratory disease/illness that is known for the awful odor. I wanna say it's Coryza or similar spelling. Have you noticed any sneezing, discharge from the nostrils, etc.? A crop that isn't full is not good. You should be able to see it full at least at times. Mine are usually extra full right before they hop up onto their perches at night. In the morning they appear empty again.

Hopefully someoen else can help out here, as that's all the info I have.

Good luck!

This bird has had the smell symptoms for sometime, at least several weeks, as I at first thought she had just eaten litter or poo or something. But, I now do think it is sour crop as described above. The new coop will be ready tomorrow, so I will keep her in the brooder area for another day to do the above treatment, it is easy enough. I did look up coryza, I am confident that it is not that as I think she would look sick and her eyes are very clear, no discharge, her behavior is peppy, and her breathing is no different than the others. Thanks for these ideas, I will try the vinegar and yogurt treatment and hope that works. Is there a reason this occurs, can others get it from sharing food and water, or is it like a human yeast infection, that some are more prone than others? Will she be more likely to get it again, or is it a random occurance? Do you think I should put her in the new coop so they all get used to it together and then separate her in a few days, or should I just hold her back to do the treatment and add her in later. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Beth

Well I would look for a cause as she must be geting some thing
does she have access to drinking from a pool of water that could be sour?
also I would do the crop flush
actually If you want to clear the crop yo need to do the baking soda flush

(1 take 1/2 cup of baking soda and put into 1 pint of warm water
use a child's ear syringe and fill with soda water
now put syringe to back of throat so you are fillin the crop area and put this soda water in the crop
now come up under the crop on front of chicken
push softly the sour mess in the crop out the beak
then flush it three times to get all the sour food out and what ever is blocking the chicks crop hole

(2 DO NOT feed any thing more than milk-yogurt soaked slice of bread

(3 I guess the mineral oil is okay
BUT always put the eye dropper with the oil in the back of the chickens throat then you won't choke the bird
also I would use 2 tsp of apple cider vineager in their gallon waterer
this will help the gut
hopefully you can get them to be okay

(4 may I sugges that you go to a lumber yard and buy white play school sand for their bedding
it is very nice and will not hurt them if they injest it
then you can take a cat litter scoop and clean out sand with droppings in it

(5 does your chickens have ample amounts of granite grit
emal me with any questions

I would feed the apple cider vinegar to all the birds
3 tbsp per gallon of ACV for a week
then go to
2 tbsp of ACV per gallon of water

Well, she does not seem to have anything in her crop at all. She is eating, and it is occasionally, briefly, full. She seems to be pooping okay, maybe a bit runny but not sure that is her. So, I will add the vinegar to the waterer, I can do that right now. Do you think I should remove other food, chick feed, or is that not necessary. I did not give them grit yet as they are still inside and eating only the Chick starter food. I was going to add grit and begin giving them scraps once outside, hopefully tomorrow. Right now they are on pine nuggets. I was trying to decide whether to keep them on this or move to shavings, I have been reading recent posts about this and it seems still quite divided. I did not read about using sand, it does make sense though, I will read about that. I will give them all yogurt if you think it is not too early. I thought I had read that you should not give them it until it was closer to laying time due to the calcium in the yogurt. Let me know what you think about these things.

Beth