Has anyone had sour crop go away on it's own?

[TwoCrows]

Did your crop go away? , my chickens neck is almost spinning she has something inside but cannot get it out will she on her own or should probiotics help?

Those movements of adjustments of the crop (when they have an issue going on) generally means a lot of yeasts are growing in the crop. Crops can itch. Sometimes you will even see the bird lift their right leg really high and scratch their crop from the outside.

Keep the bird vomited in the morning. This is very important to get all that gunk that has been sitting in the crop all night long out of the bird. The longer it sits, the more toxic it becomes, (it is rotting food), and grows more yeasts that get deeper into the birds body. Just remember to vomit them properly so you don't aspirate them...bird forward, and once the gunk starts to come out, count to 2 and then lean the bird back up. Give them a break and do this again until nothing else comes out. You will never get it all out of there.

Then keep the bird on a water soluble diet only, which means just layer feed or damp layer feed. I say damp because it becomes more interesting to eat and digests faster. No hard foods what so ever.

Keep probiotics in the water for a full week. Generally if this is a simple case of sour crop, this will clear it out of there in a weeks time. If it continues, you may need to add antifungal meds or go further to figure out why this bird continues to have a sour crop.

 

[emmachickens13]

For a mini update gale the chicken is now got a red cone and is eating yogurt with her grinded chicken pellets and seems to like it we have also given fish oil to help with digestion and we have our fingers crossed

 

[TwoCrows]

Go easy on the oil. Many people think oil helps an ailing crop when in fact oil is very hard for a chicken to digest. If they have any impactions in the intestines, oil will only gum up the works.

So just use it sparingly.

 

[emmachickens13]

are antibiotics for sour crop safe?

 

[TwoCrows]

are antibiotics for sour crop safe?

Antibiotics will only make a sour crop worse. A sour crop is basically a yeast/fungal infection. The crop normally has a large amount of good bacteria in it. The crop is a storage tank for food waiting to be moved into the stomach and gizzard. This high concentration of good bacteria keep the food from rotting. But what happens is when the balance gets disturbed in the crop, for what ever reason, these good bacteria dwindle and yeasts and fungi grow instead. This slows the crop down even more and more yeasts and fungi grow.

Antibiotics do not kill off yeast and only cause them to grow worse. Occasionally a crop can become infected with bacteria, but it is rare. You will want to add more good bacteria via yogurt or probiotics. You can also use anti fungal meds like Copper Sulfate or vaginal creams like Clotrimazole or Metronidazole, 2 %, 1 ml down the throat 3 times a day. Use these only if the crop has definitely soured. A slow crop is not yet soured until you can smell the yeast infection at the beak or when you vomit, there are white chunks in the gunk....these are the growing yeasts.

Until it is soured, usually adding the good bacteria, keeping the bird vomited in the morning, and on a water soluble diet only for a week and they heal over. And again...only if this is a simple case of sour or slow crop. If something else is going on inside the bird that is causing the sour crop, you will need to address these as well.

 

[emmachickens13]

Thank you

Xxx