Help? Big crop, clear gooey liquid coming out of beak?

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Hi there
I am fairly new to chickens but have done a lot of reading and familiarizing myself with their behaviour and anatomy. But I wanted to get an opinion on this. My 13.5 week old Speckled Sussex, Squeak, seems to have had a bigger crop the last couple days than her two flock mates (a cuckoo Maran and blue star, respectively). Last night when I was giving them a bedtime snack she kind of threw up clear gooey egg-white type of liquid from her beak. It happened again today. This morning before feeding her crop didn't seem as flat as the others, but didn't seem swollen. They eat fermented crumble and veggies usually, and a few seeds as 'scratch' before bed. Today I just made sure to only let them have the fermented/soaked crumble in the morning and some greek yoghurt. The gooey beak thing happened today after she had some yoghurt and a little drink of water, and her crop seems very full. it feels firm but not rock hard, but soft enough to massage a bit if that makes sense? Otherwise today she seems normally hungry and active, though she has been doing a lot of crop adjustments it seems. lots of strange movements with her body. last night she was not hungry at all before she 'threw up' so I was happy to see her hungry this morning. photo of goo and her crop, tried to get a few angles

Any thoughts would be helpful. I have a video of her movements but not sure how to upload.

 

[SmiYa0126]

You can upload to YouTube and then post the link here.

It sounds like sour crop. How does your fermented feed bucket smell? Pleasant or sour? If it doesn't small good you may need to do a thorough cleaning of your system.

Can you give her coconut oil into her beak and then lightly massage her crop?

Repeat that twice a day. See if she shows improvement after a couple of days. Keep an eye on her, if she overflows with liquid she could aspirate.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

ah okay. I haven't smelled anything sour on her and otherwise she seemed active so I was hopefully it wasn't that! thanks, I will try the coconut oil. the fermented feed bucket is pretty mild, it's a small container (I just make a litre at a time) and they get almost all of it daily so there isn't much that's older than a few days in it. but I'll reset it as well just in case. I'll chill some coconut oil and see if I can get her to eat it. thank you.

 

[SmiYa0126]

If you haven't smelled anything it means it hasn't gotten worse, which is good! I've also seen people give them yeast infection cream. The chickens eat it like frosting.

Specifically miconazole cream, when you mentioned litre, it sounds like you're not in US.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Ok this morning her crop was definitely not empty, it was quite engorged. So I gave her a tsp of coconut oil and massaged a bit, and I will go out in 20 mins and massage a bit more. she seems bright and energetic and hungry, which is good? but yes big crop. I will keep an eye on her today and do the coconut oil again later today. and @SmiYa0126 I am not in the US, I'm in Canada but there are similar things available. I wasn't sure if sour crop would appear not sour? does the cream make this go away, and how do I know for sure it's sour crop not impacted etc? I just want her to be healthy and she's so young

 

[SmiYa0126]

Yes, that is very good! The sour smell is when it's been sitting in the crop longer and then goes sour. Since you caught it early I would use coconut oil, give her wet mash to eat, scrambled eggs. Do the coconut oil three times a day and gently massage her crop.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I believe your bird has a blockage, like a minor case of Impacted crop.

I'd feed her coconut oil(Lots of Hardened Chunks), & gently massage it(Not to make her vomit), until you feel the contents in the crop shrink/go down.
Massage in a circular motion.

Repeat as many times as needed.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

thank you, I will do that. I gave her some oil this morning and massaged a bit and heading out to do it again, as well as some scrambled eggs.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I believe your bird has a blockage, like a minor case of Impacted crop.

I'd feed her coconut oil(Lots of Hardened Chunks), & gently massage it(Not to make her vomit), until you feel the contents in the crop shrink/go down.
Massage in a circular motion.

Repeat as many times as needed.

do you mean continuously massaging until I feel it go down or just a few minutes at a time and then checking in between? I massaged for a bit again this afternoon and she doesn't mind it, but it just feels soft and I hope I'm doing it right, sort of palpating it with a bit of an upward motion very gently (firm but not hard at all, and supporting her back whilst doing it)

 

[MysteryChicken]

do you mean continuously massaging until I feel it go down or just a few minutes at a time and then checking in between? I massaged for a bit again this afternoon and she doesn't mind it, but it just feels soft and I hope I'm doing it right, sort of palpating it with a bit of an upward motion very gently (firm but not hard at all, and supporting her back whilst doing it)

About 10-15 minutes per massage. Successful blockage clearing can be felt. The crop will shrink.

It may take a few days before the blockage is finally cleared.