A MIRACLE TREATMENT FOR SOUR CROP ????!!!

My 8-yr old hen had sour crop... barely eat anything for over a week - even her favorite "soup" (pellets w/ water) - or treats... crop was medium size and felt like a water balloon... crop wasn't going down... poops were very, very, small... loosing weight.... not acting like herself... moving around very slowly and just hanging around in one spot..... tried giving "mother's" apple cider vinegar...

I read on that someone gave their chicken kefir grains (sorry, can't find orig post). Never heard of kefir but at the rate she was going, I didn't have anything to lose.



I found a lactose free kefir at my health food store and this is what I did:

The 1st day, I did not empty her crop (which was about medium size) because I was afraid of getting it in her lungs. I put as much kefir into her crop (with a syringe and tube) without over filling it.
Massaged the crop to mix it up.

The 2nd day, the crop went down a little. I put in as much kefir as possible, without overfilling the crop. Didn't seem promising...

The 3rd day, she made a very, very, large wet poop in the morning! And the crop went down!!! IT WAS A MIRACLE!!

NOW SHE WAS HUNGRY, AND I MEAN HUNGRY! She SCOFFED UP scrambled eggs (made very dry) with kefir added (so it was pretty wet) in the morning and afternoon. She also had pureed apple, and baby vitamins. She ate that for the next 2 days; then pureed carrots were added.

Then, pellets were slowly added to the wet egg/kefir mix. (I didn’t want to add pellets right away because I was afraid they would slow the recovery by fermenting.) As the days passed, the pellets were increased as the eggs/applesause/carrots were decreased.

SHE IS NOW BACK TO NORMAL!! I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FAST IT WORKED!



Has anyone else had this success with kefir, or was my experience just a 'fluke'? I would love to hear other people's experiences and treatments. I just may save a lot of lives!

Thats Great! I'm so happy you were able to save your hen!

just looked up kefir grains and its a live culture which is better than yoghurt

inafact i found kefir yoghurt cultures which im gonna order as i make my own yoghurt

see what it like


glad you got your hen on teh mend

Thank you!! Yes, I started taking it, too!! There must be something to it if it worked that fast!! Within days, she was bathing and scratching. Amazing!

I gave her a liquid-type diet for a week because I thought it could have been an impacted crop, and I wanted to flush the stuff out.

Apparently it was just a sour crop because the probiotics took care of everything. I don't know if yogurt would have the same impact since the kefir has a lot more probiotics in it. All I know is I will be giving them kefir instead of their yogurt treat from now on!

Hopefully this will save someone else's baby!

I'm going to try this! I found some kefir with probiotcs. It's kinda like yougurt. I'm praying this will help!!!

Nothing flukey about it. My parakeet was gravely ill with crop stasis, regurgitating constantly and we did 13 days of antibiotic when the vet prescribed 10 days. I had so hoped the antibiotics would cure her and she seemed so much better for a day or so but then took a turn for the worst, she was regurgitating all day again, whimpering. It had been a couple of days since she refused the antibiotics and I noticed her regurgitation was clear and slippery and what alarmed me was that it stank. So off to the health food store I went and got her the lactose free kefir that I read about here. I used the same syringe that I used for the antibiotic and managed to get quite a bit down her, then we went to work. When we got home I got more of the kefir down her and she slept like a baby all night, I kept going in and checking on her. No whimpering, just sweet, calm sleep. Peeking in on her quietly sleeping before I went to bed myself that night, I cried like a baby.
The next morning she was regurgitating a little but her crop was empty so I took advantage of the bird and whisked her into bed with me for twenty minutes of cuddle time while the kefir warmed up in the bathroom and then spent twenty minutes getting it down her, but had to towel the squirming bird. She spit up the liquid during the first dose and it still stank, but when she spit up the second one it wasn't as stinky so I could tell I was displacing the junk in her crop with the kefir. After that she was feeling so much better she actually talked to me a little.
Twenty minutes of cuddle time was followed by twenty minutes of drop by drop getting as much of this stuff as I could get down her. In the end we dispensed with the towel and did the hand over the bird method, with breaks constantly so I could be sure she was okay, no choking and breathing normally, toward the end she would end up backward with her tail sticking out and I was forced to administer it to her under my pinkie. I guess she forgot I still knew where her beak was. After that she stood on my finger while I dropped kefir onto the side of her beak and then lifted the beak tip with the dropper so she would swallow and she was too pooped to do much but succumb. All the while I was telling her what a good bird she was and what a brave bird she was and telling her she had to admit she was feeling SO much better! She actually chirped in reply once!
I am sure doctors know about this stuff but nobody would have the time, patience or inclination to spend that much time with a patient and it takes time, love and the desire to get that bird well, needless to say I have all of those when it comes to my little chick. So she has been cleaning herself, had a nice snack, cleaned herself, got a drink of water, and cleaned herself. It is almost as if she just noticed her feathers are a mess and I have to agree with her. As she was cleaning a wing she was saying something that sounded like "I sure hope none of the neighborhood birds fly over and see me with my feathers looking like this." She is next to the window with the sun shining on her cage and is staying in the warm part alternatively grooming herself and napping.
After lunch we will do another couple of sessions and again tonight.
Always remember, when antibiotics don't work, go for the probiotics!
UPDATE: This bird has completely recovered!
Thank you to BackYard Chickens and the poster who saved her life!

Ok, so I have a silkie hen that has become very thin, she was sort of down and out a few weeks ago, brought her back, and now it appears she has this problem. Over large crop, and when I lightly squeeze, lots of liquid came out. So, I went and bought some kefir after reading this thread and gave her about 2 tsp of it, because that's about as much as I was comfortable giving at this point. Is that what you guys are giving? Did you feed anything else? I want to save my hen, just worried because she's so thin already.

Hi! I'm new to Backyard Chickens...my friend has been forwarding me info from y'all! I am treating a bantam silkie hen for sour crop. However, after about a week, she's still having problems. She's better-but not out of the woods. I've used 1 tblsp baking powder to gallon of water, yogurt, and scrambled her eggs in olive oil. I massage her crop and vomit her about 3 times a day. Problem here is that it is making her sore ( I think) because she's pulling her feathers out. Her poops are good- she's clucking and wanting out with her friends. She's very skinny because I didn't know what was wrong with her. I grew up on a farm and do not remember ever dealing with sour crop before. Tomorrow I am bringing her to a vet specializing in birds/fowl. I just don't want to lose her and I can get some definitive info to share as well. I will keep y'all posted. Baby Blue on her way to getting better!

I've used probiotics and fish canned in oil with good luck.
So I don't see why keifer won't work.

Where do you guys find kefir?