Chicken with Sour Crop and Vomiting - Please help

[ewelch]

We have a 7 mo. chicken with sour crop. She has been vomiting if she bends over too far, so we have not really made her vomit much. She went 24 hours without food, and then we fed her some scrambled eggs (a small amount) and a small amount of cooked oatmeal with baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and a little coconut oil. She ate a bit of it, but seems to be having a problem with vomiting. It seems like she is vomiting in her mouth, and swallowing it again (sorry, that is gross). She keeps clicking her beak together. Is that normal for sour crop? Or could this be respiratory?

We are massaging her crop several times a day, but it is still squishy and gassy. She is still alert and active, but is slowing down a bit.

Is there anything else we can do? And is that beak clicking and frequent vomiting a typical symptom of sour crop?

And please, we prefer natural treatments and nutrition over just blindly giving her every antibiotic under the sun "just in case." So if you have natural remedies, that's what we are hoping for.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Make sure she has a good source of poultry grit.
If you can, take a fecal sample to your vet to have her tested for worms as well.

Here is more information on treating crop problems, sometimes sour crop may need to be treated with anti-fungal medication, but there is a recipe for crop flush using epsom salts in the chicken chick link that you may find helpful.
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues-html/
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/06/chicken-anatomy-crop-impacted-crop-sour.html

 

[Teila]

Hi there ewelch

I have had great success with sardines in oil whenever my gals have got into the long grass and suffer crop issues.

They love the sardines which not only get some nutrition into them but the oil helps move along the impaction plus the massaging you are already doing.

This is also a link to some good information regarding crop issue:
http://www.purposefullysimple.com/how-to-treat-impacted-crop-sour-crop-and-pendulous-crop/

 

[ewelch]

Thank you @Teila and @Wyorp Rock!

Teila, I am sure she would love some sardines, thank you for that suggestion!

Wyorp Rock - should we provide her grit now? She ate some yesterday but we took her off food again today because she wasn't improving. I did read the chicken chick article yesterday, and found some helpful info. Thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you @Teila and @Wyorp Rock !

Teila, I am sure she would love some sardines, thank you for that suggestion!

Wyorp Rock - should we provide her grit now? She ate some yesterday but we took her off food again today because she wasn't improving. I did read the chicken chick article yesterday, and found some helpful info. Thanks!

Leave some grit free choice, don't mix it with her feed. She should take what she needs.

Hopefully she will improve soon. Keep us posted.

 

[tarahharlin]

We have a 7 mo. chicken with sour crop. She has been vomiting if she bends over too far, so we have not really made her vomit much. She went 24 hours without food, and then we fed her some scrambled eggs (a small amount) and a small amount of cooked oatmeal with baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and a little coconut oil. She ate a bit of it, but seems to be having a problem with vomiting. It seems like she is vomiting in her mouth, and swallowing it again (sorry, that is gross). She keeps clicking her beak together. Is that normal for sour crop? Or could this be respiratory?

We are massaging her crop several times a day, but it is still squishy and gassy. She is still alert and active, but is slowing down a bit.

Is there anything else we can do? And is that beak clicking and frequent vomiting a typical symptom of sour crop?

And please, we prefer natural treatments and nutrition over just blindly giving her every antibiotic under the sun "just in case." So if you have natural remedies, that's what we are hoping for.

@TwoCrows has an excellent article on crops/crop issues.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

This helped me treat an impacted crop in one of my girls, but the article also explains how to treat a sour crop. I always keep this article on hand.

Hope your girl feels better!

 

[appps]

Yes the clicking is normal.

I didn't vomit mine on purpose. Too many stories of that leading to death. I stopped the food as you did and while treating only gave soft easily digestible foods in small amounts a couple of hours after medication. First day I gave only the medication no food.

I purchased an oral thrush medication such as you buy for a baby with thrush in its mouth. It's an anti-fungal. Follow the directions on the bottle and syringe with one of those plastic medicine syringes into the mouth so they swallow down into the crop. I know you prefer natural but I don't know of any natural anti fungals and if you don't treat it will be fatal.

It worked well.

Good luck!

 

[ewelch]

@appps no that is great, we do prefer natural as a first resort, but we are fine with medication if it is necessary. It just seems like people are pretty quick to jump the gun and just say, "treat her for worms and coccidiosis and bacteria" just in case. I come from a background in public health so I am well aware of the dangers and problems created by prescribing antibiotics without reason. We will see what we can find that will treat the yeast. Oregano oil is a natural anti fungal we will treat her with in the meantime.

Thank you!!!

 

[ewelch]

Also @appps do you happen to remember the name of the thrush medication you used?