*help* i think my hen has sour crop!? *sad update we lost her*

Sorry I have not been on, I am really busy.

Henrietta's poop is white ish and watery, I saw her poo yesterday. Her crop is squishy, exactly like sour crop is described. I squeezed on it earlier and she sort of opened her mouth, air came out, it stunk. Do you think it is sour crop? i gave her that apple cider vinegar yesterday and her crop was fuller today, still squishy, and not normal, but fuller could be a good thing right? I plan to give her a little more water diluted vinegar tomorrow in a small dose and see what happens. i hope we can figure out what is wrong with her, so we can try to help her...


thanks for your help, and support, bay

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Yes, it sounds like sour crop. Fuller and still squishy isn't necessarily good, I'm afraid to say. She needs nutrition - her poop should be tan, not white, as white indicates all she's doing is drinking and that her kidneys are being effected by something. Probably toxins from her sour crop.

Posey has a thread on her about her experiences with sour crop. She has a summary of the advice that worked for her, and I completely agree with most of the advice. It's very good and would apply to you. I'm emailing her to see if I can get that for you.

If we don't get it soon, I'd at least cleanse that crop out manually by getting the crop contents out. Then I'd do a flush with some molasses water since she's not eating - she's not eating, right? That's a question I think I need answered. That and if there's anything at all that she'll eat.

Rather than say 'fast her' she might already be fasting and I don't want her to be without (good unsoured) nutrition long.

In the mean time, any thing you offer to her should qualify as being "very easily dissolved". This means boiled egg yolk yes, scrambled egg (yolk/white) or boiled egg white no. Applesauce, yes in moderation - apples, no. Crumbles yes, the same food as a pellet no. (Use the blender or food processor to grind it). Yogurt, yes - bread only used in treatment purposes (for olive oil), crusts no. Grains, including oatmeal whole sized no. Oatmeal that you grind in the food processor to a near powder before cooking, possibly.

The rule is if you put it in a glass of water for five minutes, you should come back to something that looks like mush in the bottom of the glass. Whole oatmeal flakes cooked still has oat-sized pieces in it. Powdered oatmeal (both should only be cooked right now) looks like mush.

She's going to starve is she neither eats or empties that crop. The crop's contents now are filled with fungus and bacteria and they need to be cleared out. However, I assume she's not eating so you can't fast her or flush her very hard. But I'd try to push the crop's contents (her right side) out - not with her being absolutely upside down, but by gentle massing it up until it's time to lean her head and body down a bit (head lower than body) to let the contents come out. At this point, I can't tell from here how weak she is, but it's a tough situation. She's such a lovely girl I'd like to see this fixed.

I don't think sour crop is the real problem. But it's the most dangerous one that you have at the moment. It's producing gas and poison. We get that cleaned up and going more, then we can work on the real problem which is still being vague on us. But add to it now a systemic fungal/yeast infection and bacterial imbalance. So yogurt and, tomorrow, adding a light amount of ACV is going to be important.

For today it's very important not to add too much. 1 tablespoon per gallon is my personal recommendation. TOO acidic of a crop/gut will make things difficult for good bacteria and can erode the gizzard and digestive tract lining.

Have you made her puke yet? We dealt with a defective speckled that we couldn't fix. It's amazing, and stinky, what they decide to eat.

btw, this is the husband just poking around the threads, worried about my buff.

Here is my method that I use to treat sour crop:
1) regular massage by rubbing the crop in a downward motion. Do not massage upward as it will bring the fluid upwards and you risk causing the hen to aspirate (choke on her own fluids). You will hear the bubble gurgle in there and she may have nasty rancid smelling burps. Sour crop causes a build up of the gas being produced and you need to get rid of it.

2) Then, a couple times a day (usually at massage time by alternating between the two), I take an irrigation syringe (or any syringe without a needle) and fill it with 2/3 organic raw ACV with mother and 1/3 water. I know it is strong, but it is only one syringe full. I put it in the hens mouth drop by drop unless she'll take more. I have one hen that when I alternate the massage and ACV, she will open her beak for a full squirt of ACV. It must make her feel better quickly.

3) The rest of the time, the hen's water has ACV in it.

#1 and #2 are the critical ones to us since #1 gets rid of gas and #2 kills the fungus. I have yet to lose to a hen to sour crop.

thanks everyone for the help. i am willing to do whatever it takes to get her through this.

i will get her inside to massage her crop and get the ACV in her also she does seem to be eating, but i don't think much is leaving her crop, it is just souring in there. i have to go, but i will update later today, bay

ok, i have given her ACV then massage, then more ACV, then massage...ect.
3 times so far today. she is a lot weaker today she did "burp" a lot when i massaged her it STUNK! i almost gagged, but whatever it takes! she is not eating at all, even her fav. treats! she is going to starve if i let her go on without eating, so i scrambled her an egg and, put small bits of that and crumbles in her mouth, which she swallowed. i hope i am doing the right thing... i saw her poo again today. it was mostly white but had a brown tint, and watery. i will give her some yogurt, and molasses-water soon.

thanks for your help and support everyone

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I'm going to ammend something by the way - when you do the massage, massage down. Instead of trying to get the contents out the front door, let's see if we can get them into the digestive tract and cleared and out the back door eventually.

I hope you're able to talk to Posey. She and I talked about your bird and I really think that her advice will get her straightened out. She went through some things the hard way to find out what really works.

And I wouldn't worry with the molasses water at this point, either. I'd do the stronger vinegar dosage (not straight vinegar tho - 2 tablespoons per quart) and get the food she has in her. The only feed I'd give her would be not scrambled - because that won't dissolve, but bread bits with oil on them. Scrambled eggs will just act like a big plug.

ok, i will try the bread this AM along with the vinegar and massage.

There is nothing to be added to all the help you have been given here, Good luck to you,
I hope this turns out well for you,
I have never wormed my flock, but have raised them on AVC
2 tablespoons in a gal. of water.and every 3 months they get dusted, and their coops .with Garden dust for Garden and poultry.

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That's why you need to give her about 24 hours of just the acv treatment to get that food out of there, otherwise you really just have more to have to get out of there - then you might have to resort to emptying it when it's just more safe not to.

Going to read the next message now.