Chicken with Sour Crop, Vomiting and Clicking Beak Together - Please Help

[ewelch]

New to BYC. We have a 7 month old black australorp, who is suffering from sour crop. I believe we caught it early on. She is alert and active, and has a bit of an appetite, but is not eating much.

Here is the problem:
1. She is vomiting when she leans too far forward.
2. She seems to want to eat, but when she goes to get food, she throws up a little in her mouth maybe? She is clicking her beak together a lot, but I can't really tell what is going on.

Here is what we have done so far:
Multiple crop massages per day - it still feels squishy, gassy, and swampy. And smells.
We withheld food for 24 hours, and gave her water with ACV and probiotics.
After 24 hours, we gave her a small amount of scrambled eggs, and then later cooked oatmeal with baking soda, cinnamon, coconut oil, and ginger.

The question is, is the beak clicking and vomiting a typical symptom of sour crop? Could something respiratory be going on?
And is there anything else we can do? Natural treatments first, please. We are aware that sour crop could be a sign of something deeper happening, like worms, etc., and will get to that after treating the sour crop. Please don't just give us a bunch of random antibiotics, we don't believe in treating blindly, and prefer to treat naturally first.

Thank you!!

 

[minihorse927]

At this point my first thing to do would be turn her upside down and massage the food out of her crop. It needs to be emptied. Be careful while doing this so she doesn't aspirate any of it back into her lungs.

I would then provide water with ACV for 24hrs only and see if the blockage will move on. If it does, feed is next. If it doesn't there may need to be a vet visit to get it cleared.

There could be something respiratory but it should show other symptoms. Snotty/runny nose, watery/swollen eyes, rattling in her chest. Is she presenting anything like this?

Edited(omg my autocorrect corrected snotty to THAT?!)

 

[ewelch]

Thanks @minihorse927! She has not presented any other symptoms common with respiratory ailments. We have tried now to make her vomit, but nothing comes out... She was vomiting on her own, so I wonder if she got most of the liquid out.

We are providing cayenne for potential worms.

 

[minihorse927]

Can you feel anything else in her crop?

 

[ewelch]

@minihorse927 I did laugh out loud at that autocorrect, and assumed it was one, haha.

I cannot feel anything substantial in her crop, just a general squishy mass. She is pooping, and we are giving her an Epsom salt flush to help move things along today. She's still alert and active at this time, but we will probably try and give her some oral medication (someone mentioned that which you would give a baby for thrush of the mouth, we might try that) if she doesn't improve by tomorrow.

 

[minihorse927]

Sounds like you've got things going the right direction. Keep us updated with her progress

Gotta love autocorrect