Can spinach cause Sour Crop??

[flowerchicks]

I have been reading posts on sour crop all evening to try and figure out if my favorite (why is it ALWAYS our favorite) BR hen might have it. She likes to follow me inside, and tonight, like I did last night and the night before, offered her some fresh spinach. She didn't want any, which I thought was strange because she LOVES it. Later I picked her up and noticed her crop was soft and squishy and you could actually hear water sloshing around inside. I then offered her some shredded cheese, just to see if she was interested, and she pecked at it a little, but didn't fuss when the others came and took it, not like her at all. Well, I kept her inside with me for about an hour (which she loves) and she had 3 poops, the first was mostly watery with a little dark solid poo , the second was all liquid with some white, and the third was similar to the first with a bit more dark, slimy poo. During this time, her crop did go down a bit but was still soft and squishy, but I can feel food in there. I wanted to keep her isolated tonight to see what comes out of her, but she seemed quite stressed to be kept away from the flock, so I put her back in the coop, and put a white rag under where she is roosting. And, when she went into the coop, she went straight for the oyster shell and then drank some water.. I plan on getting up early to see how her crop feels and what her poo looks like.

Like I said, I have read TONS of posts on the symptoms of sour crop, what causes sour crop and how to treat it. Many of them conflict with each other. Give them ACV, DONT give them ACV. Give them yogurt, DONT give them yogurt, massage her crop and get her to vomit, ABSOLUTELY DON'T try to get her to vomit, she will aspirate and die.... I tried several times to smell anything foul coming from her mouth and couldnt smell anything. My concern is that on one of the posts I read, it said that some soft vegetables (fresh spinach is soft) can ferment in their crop and cause sour crop. Could I have caused this by giving her something I thought was good for her? If she has this, I want to catch it early and treat her, since the posts I read didn't turn out so well. I really hope I am just over reacting, but I would rather be prepared for the worst. Thanks in advance

 

[HHandbasket]

I had fresh spinach growing in my garden this past spring, and my girls ate it every day and never had a problem with it. They get lots of grit and are also allowed to free range an hour or 2 a day, and they pick in the dirt a lot. I still give them spinach all the time, and they all love it. My ameraucana/EE is especially a fiend for spinach. If your chicken is sick from eating greens, it could be that she doesn't have enough grit to keep things moving in her digestion. I have never had to deal with sour crop, though, and can't help you there.

I hope she gets better and that everything turns out to be ok! Keep us posted.

 

[LynneP]

Spinach is high in magnesium and some hens react bdly because it throws off the calcium/Vitamin D3 ratio...

 

[flowerchicks]

Well I checked her this morning while she was still roosting. Her crop seems empty and normal and the "poo rag" I left beneath them seemed the same for all three hens. Maybe I was just over reacting, but she just didn't seem herself. I will keep a close eye on her today. The other thing I thought of was, maybe she just drank a lot of water because of the heat. But, they all seem hot, so I would think they would all do that. As for the spinach, she should be getting enough grit, she free ranges all day. Maybe she is one of those chickens that has a bad reaction to too much spinach. Can a chicken have a "mild" case of sour crop that gets better on its own, or does it always need to be treated?

 

[emys]

Try giving her some chopped collard greens or kale instead of spinach this morning and put some vitamin and electrolyte powder in her water or mix some dry feed with some water with electrolytes to make a nice cool mush.

Sounds like she may have had a mild case of heat stroke. When chickens reacting to high temps. drink a lot to cool down you'll notice sloshing crop and watery poop, but it can also cause her to flush good vitamins from her system too quickly.