Sour crop first day, impacted crop next day? Whole flock at same time

[laurendubinsky]

I have four chickens that are four months old, three of whom are laying.

Yesterday morning they had extremely distended crops but were very soft and squishy, so I added a teaspoon of ACV to their gallon sized water jug and limited their food for afternoon/evening. This morning, crops were all back to normal size.

After eating this morning, they are just as distended but today they are really hard, and I am noticing some very wet diarrhea in the coop. I feed them Purina Layena Crumbles and they also have access to Oyster shells.

It's affecting all of them but the Buff Orpington and Rainbow the most (these chickens are larger) and the Golden Comet and Speckled Sussex less so.

I cleaned and sterilized their water container out again this morning and put another teaspoon of ACV in again. What should I do? Should I withhold food from them?

PS. Several days ago they ate a lot of figs off my fig trees; don't know if this could be related.

Thank you!!

 

[NatJ]

I don't know what caused the crops to be different in the first place, but I think it was most likely a one-time thing, and it will all go back to normal if you let them self-regulate their food and water.

As regards the symptoms this morning, I think they were directly caused by what you did. Watery poop would be because they had been drinking water but not allowed to eat as much as usual last night. Full hard crops would be because they were extra-hungry this morning, so they ate more food than usual when you let them have it.

I would try putting everything back to normal for a day or two (plain water and constant access to the usual food.) Then watch to see if things go back to normal. You can check crops, but as long as the chickens are otherwise acting normal, I would not change anything based on what you do or don't feel in their crops.

If it makes you feel better to give them water with vinegar, put it in a separate waterer, so they have a choice between that and plain water. I don't think it will help anything, but as long as they have the choice to drink it or not, it should not cause any harm either.