Chickens with Impacted and Sour crop

[Mistress-with-birbs]

Hey there. So I noticed one of my girls, Baby, had diarrhea a few days ago. She seemed to be eating just fine and peppy so I thought maybe it was just a passing thing. But then she started acting kinda sad so I checked her crop yesterday morning and it was still big and squishy. I thought that probably meant Sour Crop. I went to go feel some of my other chickens crops to get a comparison amd that's when I noticed one of my other girls, Whitey, also had a full crop but hers was firm. I supposed that meant impacted crop. So I put Whitey in a cage and began treatment. I fed her about a tsp or so of olive oil by medicine dropper (which is hard, she absolutely hates it, but I can't get her to eat the coconut oil) and massaged the crop. Did that three times yesterday. This morning it is less full, maybe half the size, but still not empty! : ( I am trying to continue administering oil and massaging.
Meanwhile with Baby I read to keep them off the food and drink so I have kept her isolated in a cage today and tried to massage her crop but it's not improving any.
I can't do the "make your chicken throw up" thing, I tried last time i had a chicken with crop trouble and i killed her doing it i think she had an impacted and sour crop and i didn't know it. She choked and died and it absolutely wrecked me.
I'm scared because I'm trying to help them but nothing I'm doing is working and nothing I've ever done has worked when it comes to crop trouble. Idk why this has happened. It's winter there are no strange long grasses. No moldy feed. My mom does give them bread sometimes. But what I feel in the crops feels just like corn pieces?? From the scratch grain maybe. But I don't give them much of that, just some in their feed every day because they like it.
I think maybe I should offer the one with sour crop some water with apple cider vinegar with the mother in it.
Please help me, I feel so helpless. I don't know anyone who has chickens in my area to help me and there are no chicken vets near me either.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Sorry you are having to deal with so many crop issues. I know they can be difficult to cure.

For the impacted crop it sounds like you are making good progress. Keep massaging a few times a day with oil or water. Try to break up any mass you feel. If you have solidified coconut oil you should be able to pop it into the back side of her mouth like a pill to get her to swallow it. Make sure she has grit available to her in the cage and that your birds have access to it in general.

Sour crop often requires treatment with an antifungal cream like monistat. Also I do not withhold food during sour crop and water should always be available. ACV water is good for sour crop. If you haven;t read this article it offers good treatment advice for crop issues: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Mistress-with-birbs]

Sorry you are having to deal with so many crop issues. I know they can be difficult to cure.

For the impacted crop it sounds like you are making good progress. Keep massaging a few times a day with oil or water. Try to break up any mass you feel. If you have solidified coconut oil you should be able to pop it into the back side of her mouth like a pill to get her to swallow it. Make sure she has grit available to her in the cage and that your birds have access to it in general.

Sour crop often requires treatment with an antifungal cream like monistat. Also I do not withhold food during sour crop and water should always be available. ACV water is good for sour crop. If you haven;t read this article it offers good treatment advice for crop issues: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Ok I will try to find some grit for both of them. I'm gonna try not to feed the one with impaction till her crop clears, I really hope tomorrow morning I will find it improved. If it doesn't after another day maybe I should give her a flush, like the Epsom salt one people have talked about here, because the blockage might be in her digestive system.

Ok I'll be sure to give her food and acv water tomorrow. I was just reading those articles this evening! Thank you. We're currently getting freezing rain so it's going to be hard for me to get out but as soon as I can I will try to get some monistat for her.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts this helps me so much to not feel like I'm on my own.

 

[Mistress-with-birbs]

So I continued to give the bird whose crop wasn't emptying some olive oil three times a day. But this morning when I check there has been no progress so I'm trying to do the Epsom salt flush now, as I think the blockage must be somewhere deeper in her digestive system. The crop just feels like it has some corn in it. I dissolved 1tsp of Epsom salt into 1 ounce of water and tried to give that to her by syringe. She was more cooperative than when I'd been doing the oil, she really hated the oil. I haven't given her any food since Saturday so I'm starting to worry about that. I gave her nutridrench yesterday and will give her another dropper of that midday I think. I hope this Epsom salt flush thing helps I think I'll have to start trying to feed her eggs tomorrow even if the crop isn't empty.

As far as the Sour Crop one, I still can't get to town for her Monistat. I've been giving her ACV water free choice and food, and she seems fairly peppy, was all happy to be in my wood/mudroom warming up last evening, and was attacking spiders and bugs in there and eating them. I tried to give her some of the Epsom salt flush this morning but she struggled so much that she spat up liquid from her crop. It smelled like sourdough bread. I was only able to give her some Epsom water as her crop is already so full and squishy. I've changed her free choice to Epsom water for today. I fear that maybe she has a blockage somewhere too because of her diarrhea so that's why I wanted to try it.

So that's an update on the situation. In case anyone has any thoughts.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Please post photos of the hen and her poop.

Provide her with plenty of water to drink and offer her some wet soupy feed to eat.

It's Wednesday and you haven't given her anything to eat since Saturday?

 

[Mistress-with-birbs]

Please post photos of the hen and her poop.

Provide her with plenty of water to drink and offer her some wet soupy feed to eat.

It's Wednesday and you haven't given her anything to eat since Saturday?

This is the white one, who has some sort of blockage in her system, but no sour crop as of yet. That's her poop too.
I have been worried about giving her food since everything I read said I needed to get her crop cleared first. The first two days her crop did empty some so I thought that at least she had some stuff in her tummy.
Because you said so I went and made her some feed and water mush and put it in her cage. She didn't really show interest but she usually doesn't check stuff out while Im watching. She always has fresh water.

I'll try to get some photo of the other one soon. She usually poops when I bring her in my mud room to warm up. It's looking like I'll be able to brave the icy roads tomorrow to get her Monistat for her sour crop. I've let her have access to feed and water and she is still eating

I'm going to give them their second dose of Epsom water tonight. I really hope I see some improvement in the morning

 

[Mistress-with-birbs]

These are the pictures for the one with Sour crop. I'm going to get her some monistat today. I'm gonna look around this site to figure out the dosing.

This morning the white one still had stuff in her crop. It's not much a tsp or two, but it's so upsetting. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should give her more Epsom water? She's pooping white stuff now, which I guess might be because of the flush. I'm going to offer her wet food and scrambled soft egg today.

I'm starting to feel pretty lost... nothing I'm doing is helping them.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

These are the pictures for the one with Sour crop. I'm going to get her some monistat today. I'm gonna look around this site to figure out the dosing.

This morning the white one still had stuff in her crop. It's not much a tsp or two, but it's so upsetting. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should give her more Epsom water? She's pooping white stuff now, which I guess might be because of the flush. I'm going to offer her wet food and scrambled soft egg today.

I'm starting to feel pretty lost... nothing I'm doing is helping them.

Do offer the one with the impacted crop some wet mashed pellet food. She's probably getting pretty weak by now if she hasn't eaten in days. If she has only a partial impaction she should be able to digest some wet food and get it past the obstruction. It might even help move the obstruction. Some sugar water might be a good idea to get her energy levels up and help rehydrate her after the epsom flush.

The one with sour crop looks to be in ok shape and hopefully will respond well to the monistat. Dosage for the cream is roughly 1/2 inch given twice a day. You can just squeeze some into her mouth or put it in some bread to see if she'll eat it by herself.

Crop issue can take a while to resolve... you;ve already gotten the impacted crop down substantially and you haven't even started an antifungal med yet for the sour crop so don't get too disheartened. I know it's hard having a sick hen and feeling unsure if you're treating her properly, but you are on the right track and I think both your girls have a good chance at a full recovery.

Here is the article on crop issues I use to treat my girls:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Mistress-with-birbs]

Do offer the one with the impacted crop some wet mashed pellet food. She's probably getting pretty weak by now if she hasn't eaten in days. If she has only a partial impaction she should be able to digest some wet food and get it past the obstruction. It might even help move the obstruction. Some sugar water might be a good idea to get her energy levels up and help rehydrate her after the epsom flush.

The one with sour crop looks to be in ok shape and hopefully will respond well to the monistat. Dosage for the cream is roughly 1/2 inch given twice a day. You can just squeeze some into her mouth or put it in some bread to see if she'll eat it by herself.

Crop issue can take a while to resolve... you;ve already gotten the impacted crop down substantially and you haven't even started an antifungal med yet for the sour crop so don't get too disheartened. I know it's hard having a sick hen and feeling unsure if you're treating her properly, but you are on the right track and I think both your girls have a good chance at a full recovery.

Here is the article on crop issues I use to treat my girls:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Yes I'm giving both of them some wet crumble mash and soft boiled egg. Baby, the one with sour crop, likes the egg and food. The white one isn't too interested, more interested in eating the spiders and bugs in my wood room. But I'm keeping them in a cage together now, because they seem to like each other's company and the white one seems to gain interest in the food because Baby is eating it. It does seem like the one with impaction is a partial impaction, because fluid and stuff does drain from her crop. I'm giving some nutridrench to try to give her some energy.
Yes getting the miconazole helps me feel like I've got the tools I need. I gave her her first dose, like you said, just now. And will give it twice a day for a week.

Thank you, I'll keep working with them. Having communication on here really helps me feel less alone. I love them so much, they're really such nice birds.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have been worried about giving her food since everything I read said I needed to get her crop cleared first. The first two days her crop did empty some so I thought that at least she had some stuff in her tummy.

This morning the white one still had stuff in her crop. It's not much a tsp or two, but it's so upsetting. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should give her more Epsom water? She's pooping white stuff now, which I guess might be because of the flush. I'm going to offer her wet food and scrambled soft egg today.

They look like they are just chillin' in the wood room.

I'd provide feed for them both.
Having a tsp or two in the crop first thing in the morning is not that bad.
I think I'd just treat them both with coconut oil and the monistat.
Do provide grit free choice. Wet feed, dry feed, egg...whatever they want to eat, I'd just no give scratch right now.

See that they are both drinking well.