Fighting sour crop

[rumbleBee_STi]

I did a couple days with CO and massage of impaction,
then a week of miconazole with this girl.
Took about 3-4 days before she was having good poops.
She still has a bit of a pendulous crop, but moves stuff thru just fine.
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That’s great that she is still digesting well. I’m fairly certain after all is said & done with Slade that his crop will be slightly pendulous as well. We’re still fighting this sour crop. I couldn’t get Slade in to see the vet before Thanksgiving, hopefully I can get him an app this coming up week. He has impacted crop on top of sour crop, & his crop fills up with liquid to where it over flows if he bends over. I’ve learned how to regurgitate him, almost to where his crop is empty & I can feel the actual impaction. He has regurgitated pieces of straw, so I’m pretty sure that’s what is blocking him up, (that’s also the last time I ask for my husbands advice on what is okay for the chickens).

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

Don't make yourself crazy, one trip to the vet and they can test for coccidiosis, worms, bacteria, and yeast.

Back again. My boy, Slade, has an impaction of straw on top of his sour crop. I’ve carefully regurgitated him a few times because he would be so full of liquid that when he bends over it overflows from his beak. Had a few pieces of straw come up in his puke. I’ve gotten him empty enough to where I can actually feel the impaction when massaging his crop. I can also feel the pieces of grit that I’ve given him. He has perked up SO much in the last few days, he even lays down to sleep now instead of standing with his head tucked into his wing. I even caught him sunbathing under the heat lamp. His comb has puffed up some & has gotten some red color back. He eats coconut oil straight from a plate or my hand. Is there anything else I should be doing to help get this impaction moving?

 

[azygous]

It can take days to break up and move out an impaction. Do what you've been doing with the oil. But spend each time with a five minute massage of his crop. Try to feel with your fingers what the composition of material might be in the crop. Grass requires more oil to move it out than other stuff that tends to dissolve. Grass, being cellulose, is the most stubborn.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

It can take days to break up and move out an impaction. Do what you've been doing with the oil. But spend each time with a five minute massage of his crop. Try to feel with your fingers what the composition of material might be in the crop. Grass requires more oil to move it out than other stuff that tends to dissolve. Grass, being cellulose, is the most stubborn.

I appreciate you & everyone else that’s helped & given intstructions & advice. I will keep on with the oil, he hasn’t pooped in a few days unless it’s been liquid & I haven’t been able to notice.

I can feel a clump of something in his crop, can’t tell exactly what it is but I’m willing to bet it’s straw, leaves maybe & possibly grass. Also grit.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

It can take days to break up and move out an impaction. Do what you've been doing with the oil. But spend each time with a five minute massage of his crop. Try to feel with your fingers what the composition of material might be in the crop. Grass requires more oil to move it out than other stuff that tends to dissolve. Grass, being cellulose, is the most stubborn.

Should I still feed him? Kind of an obvious answer I guess, he’s been eating boiled egg, & yogurt only. I usually would melt the coconut oil in a glass cup inside the microwave & pour it over his eggs. I mix in the yeast meds too.

 

[aart]

I usually would melt the coconut oil in a glass cup inside the microwave & pour it over his eggs.

I mix it into crumble feed. 1tsp of CO and as much crumble as it takes to soak it all up.
Not sure yeast meds(miconazole?) should be mixed with the CO.

 

[azygous]

I see no reason for withholding food from a crop yeast patient. They need all the nutrition they can get to strengthen their immune responses.

I am guessing the confusion over whether to feed a crop patient stems from the confusion over the different crop disorders and how they are treated. Using common sense alone would dictate that trying to cram more food into an already over-stuffed impacted crop is a bad idea, and besides, such a chicken most likely will refuse to stuff more into the already full crop.

Yeasty crops are full of liquid, not food. By dint of food being denser than water, it shouldn't have any trouble going down through the liquid and into the gizzard and intestines where the nutrients are absorbed.

I missed out on a lot of school when I was a sickly little kid, and so I learned to think for myself, especially when what I was told made no sense.

 

[azygous]

If after seven days of yeast meds the crop still refuses to empty, other measures should be considered. You can treat a crop that won't empty of solids with a stool softener in addition to the oil.

If the crop remains full of fibrous material in spite of the stool softener and oil, you might need to open up the crop and squeeze out the solids. I've talked several people through this surgery. It's not complicated, but not many are brave enough to try it. However, unless grassy stems are removed in this manner, there's little hope of clearing the crop of such impervious material.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

I mix it into crumble feed. 1tsp of CO and as much crumble as it takes to soak it all up.
Not sure yeast meds(miconazole?) should be mixed with the CO.

That definitely works! He gobbled it up without a second thought.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

If after seven days of yeast meds the crop still refuses to empty, other measures should be considered. You can treat a crop that won't empty of solids with a stool softener in addition to the oil.

If the crop remains full of fibrous material in spite of the stool softener and oil, you might need to open up the crop and squeeze out the solids. I've talked several people through this surgery. It's not complicated, but not many are brave enough to try it. However, unless grassy stems are removed in this manner, there's little hope of clearing the crop of such impervious material.

I thought about the stool softener route. I actually seen him poop today, but it’s almost pure liquid with just a few small pieces of poop. Some mornings he has made a nice chunk, not much but it was more than broken pieces. Honestly though, me & my boy have been battling this impacted/sour crop for so long now. He’s lost a tremendous amount of weight, I think it would be best to cut out the middle man...& actually DO something...

Im brave when I need to be, especially when it comes to saving a life. Im confident in my abilities, & I think we may be at that point of just going ahead & attempt to manually remove the impaction. I feel like he’s suffered long enough with this, & if there’s something that can be done to relieve him of this suffering, I hope that crop surgery will be the fix. Lately, I’ve been watching videos of crop surgeries being performed, the impaction that some of these poor chickens had were HUGE. I don’t believe his impaction is that large, but something in there is large enough to be causing a backup. I’m not nervous about the actual slicing of his skin & crop, or emptying out the contents found inside, it’s the closing of crop & skin that has me worried. Do I use sutures? What kind? What type of suturing pattern would be best? What if they get ripped open somehow?