Anyone know how to stimulate crop emptying?

[skiznap]

My 8 month old blue andalusian has had a sour crop for the last few days. We have been flushing it out with a baking soda/water solution and then giving her some coconut oil mixed with probiotics. I gave her a little cooked yolk and yogurt yesterday, she ate it, but her crop doesn't seem to be emptying. I hate flushing her crop daily because it stresses her so badly. She is pooping a little, so something is getting through. I was just wondering if anyone knows of something other than massage that may stimulate her crop to empty.

thanks,

skippy

 

[threehorses]

Give her a tiny bit of baby food applesauce mixed with her "glop". Make sure the yogurt is plain, not flavored, and no bits.

She should only be eating easily dissolved foods - if you put them in a glass of water and came back 5 minute later, they'd be mush at the bottom of the glass.

Don't use coconut oil, please. That's likely the issue. Just her crumbles, boiled (not scrambled) yolk, yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon of applesauce. You can also use organic apple cider vinegar in her water at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon. That helps clean out the gunk that might be in there (including any oil soaps), provides yet more good bacteria, and creates a better pH.

Are you feeding her laying pellets? Try making crumbles from them in the blender. That melps them dissolve a little better.

The yogurt needs to be daily. The applesauce can be every other day.

 

[skiznap]

Thanks for the reply. I will stop with the coconut oil and take the rest of your advice. Yes, I do use pellets, so I will have to blend them up. I have been using ACV in her water. I will update on her progress if and when she makes some.

here is a picture of her, just because she is cute and her comb is very floppy right now.

ps. why would coconut oil be an issue? just curious.

thanks,

skip

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
I just had to 'quote' that because I don't know - it just tickled me, was very cute.

She is, indeed, adorable!!
On the oil:
If you have an *impacted* crop, that's what you do at the first of it- but olive oil. The reason is that olive oil stays fluid at room temperature. Coconut oil does not. It gets solid.

Solid in the crop = lump.

There are some articles about the body making soaps from oils that solidify and other matter in the digestive tract. So when it comes to oils, it's probably best to stick with ones that are liquid at room temperature - and then use them sparingly.

Since the coconut oil is no longer needed, I'd like to see if that would help the issue. It also will help there being less buildup in the crop.

Right now what you want in the crop is this: no sludge, no emulsified oils, nice clean sides with a correct pH with a renewed growth of the resident beneficial bacteria and the right feel to the mucous.

Further back, you want a gizzard that is loaded with grit (tho I wouldn't load it now - I would make sure you slowly reload it once she's over this) so that there's no slowdown from lack of grit and solid foods. The grit should be granite grit or iodized pigeon grit, etc. No matter what the ground is like where you live - a chickeny myth.

The muscles should be strong, and food should move through.

The next section, the intestines, should also be free of yeast and sludge and should have a very healthy growth of beneficial bacteria as that's where true breakdown, enzyme production (for further breakdown), and absorbtion, and eventually excretion take place.

That's the set of conditions for which we're aiming.

Good on the pellets, very good.

The food processor thing is awesome for that - really it just helps stuff, and hey - it's free.

I like free.

Good on the acv. It's organic, yes? I'm not a big hippy about organics, but there's a reason for organic ACV versus the chemically produced - I don't know if I have "preached" about this in this thread. /grin

 

[skiznap]

Hi, I just saw your most recent post, thanks for all of the information. Unfortunately, she died two nights ago. She eventually ran out of gas and just seemed to give up. It looked like some food was getting through, but her crop would not empty. I think she was tired of fighting. Her loss is extra sad because we initially thought she was a rooster but she was lucky enough to turn out to be a hen; therefore, we had been labeling our egg cartons as "Lucky Rooster Eggs." irony...

 

[threehorses]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost her.

Thank you for letting us know.