Possible crop issues... some help please

[LozzyR]

Hello, I’ve been reading other posts about sour crop and I’ve been a bit reluctant to create yet another post as it feels like people are repeating themselves, but I thought maybe I should post something as it’s specific to my hen.

I have a salmon Faverolle who is approximately fifteen months old. I have had her for about three months and for some reason, isn’t laying. Yesterday, she was making a funny noise, almost yipping like a small dog. I watched her carefully and she came and had some breakfast and seemed her normal self, plus she also made her normal vocalisations. She came down to the run to check out the food I’d put in the feeder and I only just by chance noticed that when she bent down, brown liquid came out of her beak. The last time I saw that, my hen died as she had egg yolk peritonitis. I gave her some layer feed after that, and there wasn’t any more liquid coming out as she bent down, and she was drinking. She seemed ok during the day. At night, I checked everyone’s crop (I have five hens) and I could feel what felt like a golf ball under the feathers for four out of five hens (my four year-old ISA Brown wasn’t as defined) and this morning they all felt flat. People have mentioned soft and squishy crops but I don’t know what that feels like as the whole bird feels soft and squishy to me!

There has been much talk of natural yoghurt, foods that don’t feed yeast like egg and kale, apple cider vinegar and even Clotrimazole cream. I have bought some of this, which is 100mg/g and the tube is five grams. I also gave them ACV in the water this morning. I’ve been told not to cage her but now I’m at a standstill.

I also saw people saying that yeast is contagious through the waterers. Should I be dosing all my girls with the Clotrimazole? 1cc is 1ml which is a lot, I’ve heard twice a day, three times a day, is it 1cc over the course of a day or each dose? Can I dose my Faverolle just to be on the safe side? I haven’t tried making her vomit, plus she’s very skittish and gets very panicky if I hold her.

I do have access to an avian vet, but I recently spent an exorbitant amount of money trying to save an ISA Brown from EYP and failed, so I’m keen to fix this myself if I can. I have read the article by @TwoCrows and it’s very detailed, I’m just not sure what to do next. When I picked her up yesterday I couldn’t smell anything. If anyone could please give me any more suggestions, I’d be very grateful.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If you are not smelling anything. The crop is empty in the morning, etc. then likely you don't need to treat anything.

I would observe her for several days. Check the crop each morning.
Yipping a couple of times - she may have gotten a bit of food stuck and was coughing it up.
It's not too unusual for a bird to drink a lot of water and bend over and water come back out.
IF it's consistent - you continue to see water coming back up, she's yipping a lot - then treating her would be in order.

After you feel everyone's crop every day for a week (I suggest both night and morning for comparison) you should get the hang of what the crop should feel like.

 

[LozzyR]

If you are not smelling anything. The crop is empty in the morning, etc. then likely you don't need to treat anything.

I would observe her for several days. Check the crop each morning.
Yipping a couple of times - she may have gotten a bit of food stuck and was coughing it up.
It's not too unusual for a bird to drink a lot of water and bend over and water come back out.
IF it's consistent - you continue to see water coming back up, she's yipping a lot - then treating her would be in order.

After you feel everyone's crop every day for a week (I suggest both night and morning for comparison) you should get the hang of what the crop should feel like.

Hi Wyorp, thanks so much for your response, I have been feeling quite anxious. I haven’t heard her yip at all today, nor yesterday after the first time. I haven’t seen any more liquid come out as she bends over, but I will check everyone’s crop morning and night for a week, just so I know my birds a bit better. She’s been alarm-calling quite a bit today, she and the other salmon seem to do that if they want me to do something. They’ve got me well-trained! I will give her a sniff each night to double-check. Thank you again.

 

[iwltfum]

If the crop is flat in the morning, then your hen almost certainly doesn't have sour crop. Sour crop looks like a baseball (or bigger) is hanging off of their neck under their feathers and will still be there in the morning. An early case of sour crop (before you can see the protrusion) can be subdued by adding ACV to the water every couple of days at a rate of 1-4tablespoons per gallon and can be used as a preventative as well.

Egg bound (EYP) looks very different from sour crop. If your hen is egg bound, she will look almost like she is squatting or has terrible posture. They have a very different "tucked up" kind of look to them when they are egg bound and they basically don't move around very much and seem very listless.

ACV in the water can be beneficial for a flock no matter what is going on, but I would not treat with any medications unless you can diagnose the problem fairly confidently. A brown leakage from the beak can be a sign of several problems or it could just be nothing so I wouldn't make your determination based on that.

 

[LozzyR]

If the crop is flat in the morning, then your hen almost certainly doesn't have sour crop. Sour crop looks like a baseball (or bigger) is hanging off of their neck under their feathers and will still be there in the morning. An early case of sour crop (before you can see the protrusion) can be subdued by adding ACV to the water every couple of days at a rate of 1-4tablespoons per gallon and can be used as a preventative as well.

Egg bound (EYP) looks very different from sour crop. If your hen is egg bound, she will look almost like she is squatting or has terrible posture. They have a very different "tucked up" kind of look to them when they are egg bound and they basically don't move around very much and seem very listless.

AVC in the water can be beneficial for a flock no matter what is going on, but I would not treat with any medications unless you can diagnose the problem fairly confidently. A brown leakage from the beak can be a sign of several problems or it could just be nothing so I wouldn't make your determination based on that.

Many thanks @iwltfum , I will continue to monitor crops night and morning for a week and give them some ACV every other day. She seemed absolutely fine today but that’s the thing about chooks; they’re so good at hiding that they’re sick, until they’re very sick.