Any advice? Help is needed

[gabbi824]

Hi everyone, so I am in a bit of a pickle with my new baby chicks. We recently had a baby chick (6 months of age) diagnosed with "Sour Crop" or "Thrash" and it died, sadly. At this time I am concerned that another baby chick has this same condition and I am trying to nip it in the butt right away. I hear cultured yogurt is good for chickens with or without "Sour Crop" but since it is like a yeast infection isn't dairy and sugar bad for that? I also wanted to see if anyone knew what type of signs we should keep our eyes out for other than the normal not roosting, not eating, dazing, and saggy comb. I will most likely call the new vet we have, but I am worried I am just a overly concerned chicken owner. Help?

 

[Pyxis]

Sorry for your loss. Your pullets are no longer considered chicks at six months of age. If you have another case of sour crop the chickens must be eating something to cause it. It is caused when the crop cannot empty due to a blockage and the food in the crop starts to rot which can cause a yeast infection. Do your chickens have access to long fibrous things they could be eating like long grass? This can get tangled into a ball and cause a blockage. If so don't let them have access to that any longer.

Yogurt can help because just like when a woman gets a yeast infection, it is due to an imbalance in the organisms normally found in the environment. Feeding yogurt can introduce bacteria that can help bring things back into balance. You can also give the affected bird vegetable oil to act as a lubricant to hopefully get the blockage that is causing this to pass.

Some people will also recommend 'vomiting' the hen to get the rotting food out of her crop. Be careful if you decide to do this because it can cause the hen to aspirate and die if done incorrectly.

People have also had luck treating this by feeding their hens a Monistat suppository.

Here is a further link that will give you some good information.

How have you determined that this is sour crop? Have you withheld food for 24 hours and found that the crop has not got down overnight and is squishy? Is there a bad smell coming from the hen's beak?

 

[gabbi824]

So the last one "Elouise" we did the vomit technique and it ended up with her dead. We may have given her a heart attack because we had to do it three or four times before her crop was emptied. Well now that the last hen died I am on a kick on making sure the last six are ok, we have had a lot of chicken death in the past year, hawks ate our rooster and two hens, and the other three died of old age. So since there has been so much death on the farm I am being extra careful with signs of any harm to the hens. As of right now the two rhode island reds "Billy" & "Bonnie" has a inflamed crop which has gone down all day. When i close their coop tonight i will be pulling their food. The other four look ok, they have a little bulge but it is hard, so I am not completely concerned. We did get a new scratch from a different dealer and will be stopping that right away, it started around the time we bought that. I also have organic, whole milk plain yogurt I wanted to give them it is cultured but i was concerned about the milk and dairy bothering the infection if it is one. I have not smelled the beak, but i do know the smell of that bile from vomiting Elouise. The crop is squishy now, but its big and I don't know if i should declare it sour crop. The grass is cut, and we are an organic farm so we are pesticide free.

 

[Pyxis]

The fact that the crop has gone down all day makes me think you don't have a problem. It is normal for the crops to be full during the day and they can get ridiculously large. They should empty out overnight and in the morning they will have gone down. If you withhold food overnight and go out in the morning and their crops are still full and are tender and squishy that's a sign of sour crop. If they are hard and feel packed full, that would be impacted crop.

The scratch wouldn't be causing this problem since it shouldn't cause a blockage unless it contains long fibrous things, although it should only be fed as a treat so it shouldn't be making up a major part of their diet anyway.

Are you seeing any signs of illness aside from full crops?

 

[gabbi824]

I just went to close them in their coop and i lifted her up and she spit up which is kind of how the other chicken started her journey to sour crop. I pulled all their feed out, they do nest in hay. I attempted to smell her beak she would not let me ill try again tomorrow if it isn't down. I did watch her poop today and it was extremely running not sure if that helps. Her crop is extremely large but she is not showing any other signs yet, she pecked away at grass today and drank a ton of water, and although they have not completely learned to roost she is at least on the second level of the coop. We started them on all Purina products and bought this different crumble recently and thats what this all kind of started, i plan to stop all crumble by the other company and go back to purina. I will feed them yogurt in the morning a "whole milk plain" yogurt is ok to feed them?

 

[Pyxis]

Definitely check them in the morning and see how their crops are and then you can go from there. The spitting up and tons of drinking isn't a great sign. That yogurt will be fine. It could actually be the hay they are eating that is causing this if the strands are long. You may want to switch to a different bedding type.

 

[gabbi824]

I have never had some many concerns with our chickens. All of our other chickens were adopted from people who had them in their backyard and no longer wanted them. This was our first flock of baby chicks, its extremely sad. I think i am so concerned with the "sour crop" thing because the last one died after she was diagnosed with "sour crop". The medication i had to give her by syringe was so hard to get into her mouth, it was a sad day here and now i will be up all night worrying away about this! Thank you so much for your help, you have cleared and reassured me of some things. I really do hope that it is less swollen tomorrow morning. Otherwise to the vet we go!

 

[Pyxis]

I have never had some many concerns with our chickens. All of our other chickens were adopted from people who had them in their backyard and no longer wanted them. This was our first flock of baby chicks, its extremely sad. I think i am so concerned with the "sour crop" thing because the last one died after she was diagnosed with "sour crop". The medication i had to give her by syringe was so hard to get into her mouth, it was a sad day here and now i will be up all night worrying away about this! Thank you so much for your help, you have cleared and reassured me of some things. I really do hope that it is less swollen tomorrow morning. Otherwise to the vet we go! 

So sorry If you end up having to give medication again, instead of trying to force it into their beaks (I know how hard that is) try instead putting it on a piece of bread and have them eat it that way - much easier! Also less stressful for the chicken.

 

[gabbi824]

that is a wonderful idea! thank you so much! I am keeping my fingers crossed for them to be unpuffed in the morning. I will feed the yogurt which i hope can be a better step them "vomiting" them. Ugh that was scary....

 

[gabbi824]

Hi everyone I checked the hens this morning all crops were normal.

Withheld food up until an hour ago and let them all munch on some yogurt...hope I have no more scares..
Did catch the little one eating wet hay since it's raining today...planning to change bedding to pine shavings