Can depression cause Sour Crop?

[Desert_Fox]

Can anyone see something odd? @Wyorp Rock @Kiki

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm not a vet nor an expert. Hopefully @Eggcessive @coach723 and @casportpony can chime in as well.
The yellow is fat.
Looks like there may have been a hemorrhage in the lungs, you mentioned respiratory infection (I think). Do you know if you have MG, Coryza in the flock or possibly aflatoxins or aspergillosis could be part of the problem. If you treat with antibiotics do they get better or not?
Liver is not normal and shouldn't fall apart like that, but it doesn't have a pale fatty look to me that would be indicative of Fatty Liver Disease.

I'm assuming that all 172 birds are eating the same thing, so I would also assume that if it was aflatoxins in the feed, you'd have more than just 2 that died within a short period of time.

I can't tell you what the cause of any of these are just what it looks like to me. I'm thinking respiratory illness, at least in the hen, but the impacted crop and gizzard in both is a bit of a puzzle, unless whatever illness you are dealing with is causing the body to rapidly breakdown and they just are not able to process their feed.

Is there an agriculture ministry, a vet school, a vet or anything like that in your area where you can send your photos or if you lose another bird have some testing and a professional necropsy to get more information?

 

[Desert_Fox]

I'm not a vet nor an expert. Hopefully @Eggcessive @coach723 and @casportpony can chime in as well.
The yellow is fat.
Looks like there may have been a hemorrhage in the lungs, you mentioned respiratory infection (I think). Do you know if you have MG, Coryza in the flock or possibly aflatoxins or aspergillosis could be part of the problem. If you treat with antibiotics do they get better or not?
Liver is not normal and shouldn't fall apart like that, but it doesn't have a pale fatty look to me that would be indicative of Fatty Liver Disease.

I'm assuming that all 172 birds are eating the same thing, so I would also assume that if it was aflatoxins in the feed, you'd have more than just 2 that died within a short period of time.

I can't tell you what the cause of any of these are just what it looks like to me. I'm thinking respiratory illness, at least in the hen, but the impacted crop and gizzard in both is a bit of a puzzle, unless whatever illness you are dealing with is causing the body to rapidly breakdown and they just are not able to process their feed.

Is there an agriculture ministry, a vet school, a vet or anything like that in your area where you can send your photos or if you lose another bird have some testing and a professional necropsy to get more information?

Hi, and thanks a lot.
About 1 month ago i saw the very same hen, with a bit of foamy stuff in her eye, i assumed it was coryza and gave her and her coop friends Tylan for a week, and it went away, nothing more noticable until she died.

 

[Eggcessive]

Kudos for doing the necrospy and posting pictures. I don’t have a ton of expertise on necropsies. I usually do them to look for reproductive issues and look at livers. In post 29 first picture there is an air bubble that could possibly indicate air sacculitis which is what chickens with respiratory diseases can die of. Don’t take my opinion as expert, but just a guess. The darkness in lungs is probably hemorrhage. If the hen responded to Tylan, it probably is mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG,) instead of coryza.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Rooster's shouldn't be fed layer feed, it causes long term kidney damage.
I'd suggest, switching to an All Flock, or Flock Raiser feed for everyone, & have oyster shells in a separate feeder for the ladies.

Do you provide grit?

Just a tip for future feeding.

 

[coach723]

I agree with what @Wyorp Rock and @Eggcessive posted. I would try to find a resource that will do a necropsy and labs for you in the event you lose another one. When birds have a respiratory virus, some of those are chronic, the symptoms come and go, but the bird carries it for life. They can be weakened, their immune systems are already dealing with that, so can be more susceptible to other things more easily, other virus's or bacteria that might affect a healthier bird less. Labs would identify if you are dealing with a virus (or even more than one). I would limit or eliminate the whole grain feeds and stick with a pellet or crumble. Make the grains a very occasional treat. The issue with the whole grains is that they can pick and choose bits and leave the stuff they like less. This can contribute to dietary imbalances, and fat. Corn is a particular contributor to that (and generally they LOVE it). Having said that, some birds are more genetically prone to building fat deposits in the abdomen. So once you know the diet is not a contributor, then I would not hatch from the birds that tend toward fatty abdomens. I bought a batch of chicks once that were absolutely awful for fatty abdomens, I had never had that issue before in my flock, and these were fed the same way as they matured. I lost half of them at about a year old, I think only one of them made it past 2. I've had birds with heart problems also have very brittle or crumbly livers. So if there is a respiratory virus and they aren't processing oxygen well, then the stress on the heart and liver might be a contributor.

 

[OrganikMarket]

Hi guys.
I have several chicken breeds, what i do usualy, is to keep 2 roosters of each breed, if they hatched together and get along fine, i keep them together with the hens, if they dont get along, i keep one with the hens, and the "backup rooster" in a separate cage inside the same coop. Every week, I swap the roosters, the backup stays with the hens and do free ranging during the day, the "main" rooster goes to the cage for a week, and vice versa.

In my Sussex Light coop, i have 6 hens aged between 7-10 months, and 2 roosters, the main rooster 10 months old, the backup 7. The backup rooster stayed in his cage until yesterday, had never seen a hen since he hatched.
Ive done several incubations with the eggs the hens laid, and always had a good hatching ratio around 80-90%, in the last incubation the hatch ration was only 20%.
So i decided to give a change to the backup rooster, and give some rest to the main rooster. I swaped them yesterday. The main rooster was not happy not being able to free range, a bit agitated, but was doing fine.
This morning he was looking a bit depressed, but I thought there was no reason to worry. A few hours ago when i locked them for the night, i checked the main rooster, and when i picked him up he "vomited" some liquid, i checked him and he had his crop full, i massaged the crop a bit, and he vomited some grains, i holded his head down to avoid the risk of aspiration.
I found this wierd because, I always add apple cider vinegar to the water specifically to help them avoding sour crop.

Ive placed him again with the hens, and the backup rooster back into his cage, but he kept looking depressed and for a brief period he was shaking his tail feathers, like he was cold or something, and chewing the stuff that was left on his mouth. I'am afraid that when I picked him up and massaged his crop, I made him aspirate some of the stuff from his crop, I checked him for the next 3 hours, and he was breathing ok, no open beak, or anything, but keept looking depressed and did not move around.

My plan is to keep him without food or water for the next 24h, to see if he manages to clear his crop.

My question is, did this happen just by coincidence, and he was going to get a sour crop anyway, even with the apple cider vinager, or did this happen because I took away his hens?

Thanks in advance, for you opinions.

In my inexperience but after 8+ years, it happens, they drink to much sometimes. The AC is exceptionally good we use feed a eggLOAF weekly with herbs so they don’t get sour crops so good luck.


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