Help; chick with possible sour crop

[murphynhazel12]

Has she gone off her food and water? Is she standing around fluffed up? Are her butt feathers really stained with white urates? She is at the age she could have Coccidiosis which will cause a lot of urate stained butt feathers. Coccidiosis will cause a slow crop.

Do her butt feathers have a strong odor? This would indicate possible yeast infection somewhere between the crop and vent, causing a slow crop.

What color AND consistency is the poop? Diarrhea? Do you see bits of grass in the poop? This would indicate possible impaction of the gizzard or crop.

I read your article, and based off that information, I believe she has slow crop. I have isolated her but she can still see the rest of the flock. What else should I do for her? i don't believe it is coccidiosis because she was on medicated feed.

 

[TwoCrows]

I read your article, and based off that information, I believe she has slow crop. I have isolated her but she can still see the rest of the flock. What else should I do for her? i don't believe it is coccidiosis because she was on medicated feed.

We need to figure out why the crop is slow. What does her poop look like? Is she eating/drinking? Fluffed up? Stained butt feathers? Any other clues you can give that might help to diagnose? How long ago was she on medicated feed? The feed doesn't give them immunity to Coccidiosis, it only helps to prevent it. Immunity develops over time and any age bird can contract it over their life time.

 

[murphynhazel12]

We need to figure out why the crop is slow. What does her poop look like? Is she eating/drinking? Fluffed up? Stained butt feathers? Any other clues you can give that might help to diagnose? How long ago was she on medicated feed? The feed doesn't give them immunity to Coccidiosis, it only helps to prevent it. Immunity develops over time and any age bird can contract it over their life time.

She was on medicated feed a couple weeks ago. We switched to flock raiser instead. I can't tell if she is fluffed up, she is a silkie. She is eating and drinking some, but not a ton. her poops look a little smaller than normal, but that's about it. Her butt feathers are a little stained, but they are also really fluffy. It could be something wrong with water, there was a source of water that was tainted/ dirty that I didn't notice until recently and took it away, could it be that upset her crop?

 

[TwoCrows]

She was on medicated feed a couple weeks ago. We switched to flock raiser instead. I can't tell if she is fluffed up, she is a silkie. She is eating and drinking some, but not a ton. her poops look a little smaller than normal, but that's about it. Her butt feathers are a little stained, but they are also really fluffy. It could be something wrong with water, there was a source of water that was tainted/ dirty that I didn't notice until recently and took it away, could it be that upset her crop?

I doubt it is a water issue unless it was really filthy and she drank it for a long period. Did you change the feed suddenly, as a quick feed change will cause digestive issues and slow crops in some birds.

If you think this is caused by a sudden feed change, you might add probiotics to the water or offer her yogurt daily for a while and see if this doesn't clear up. If you have any of the old feed left over, you might make a 50/50 mix for a week or so and see if this also doesn't help.

And after one more week and you don't see improvement, I am inclined to think she either has a yeast infection or Coccidiosis.

For now avoid all bread, scratch, fruits, etc.. stick to easy to digest things that she will eat...mealworms are ok, scrambled eggs, cooked grits or cooked oatmeal, along with her chicken feed. You might dampen the feed too so it breaks down easier for her.

 

[murphynhazel12]

I doubt it is a water issue unless it was really filthy and she drank it for a long period. Did you change the feed suddenly, as a quick feed change will cause digestive issues and slow crops in some birds.

If you think this is caused by a sudden feed change, you might add probiotics to the water or offer her yogurt daily for a while and see if this doesn't clear up. If you have any of the old feed left over, you might make a 50/50 mix for a week or so and see if this also doesn't help.

And after one more week and you don't see improvement, I am inclined to think she either has a yeast infection or Coccidiosis.

For now avoid all bread, scratch, fruits, etc.. stick to easy to digest things that she will eat...mealworms are ok, scrambled eggs, cooked grits or cooked oatmeal, along with her chicken feed. You might dampen the feed too so it breaks down easier for her.

I did change it suddenly, but it was a couple weeks ago, and she just started having problems recently (unless I didn't notice something, which is likely, I'm not very observant). I can give her some yogurt to help her. I do give them (possibly too many) treats, so I will try to stick to easy to digest things. Do you think it may be a reaction to the food change, even though it was a while ago? Or something else? Thank you so so much for all your help! I feel so much better now that I know what is wrong.

 

[TwoCrows]

I did change it suddenly, but it was a couple weeks ago, and she just started having problems recently (unless I didn't notice something, which is likely, I'm not very observant). I can give her some yogurt to help her. I do give them (possibly too many) treats, so I will try to stick to easy to digest things. Do you think it may be a reaction to the food change, even though it was a while ago? Or something else? Thank you so so much for all your help! I feel so much better now that I know what is wrong.

Well we can't be 100% sure on this but the feed is a likely suspect! It can take a couple of weeks to show up, every bird is different in how quickly they react to food. When the good bacteria get out of balance anywhere from the crop to the vent, it can slow things down. Try using some probiotics or plain unsweetened yogurt daily for one week. You can use human, dog, cat, all probiotics are the same. Don't over do them, it only takes a bit. One capsule of human stuff dumped in one quart of water is fine. Make a new batch daily. Or a tablespoon full of plain yogurt once daily.

If this doesn't fix this in a weeks time, it either has developed into a larger yeast infection, or something other is going on...as in impaction, some internal issue or some sort of parasite problem. If it's a yeast infection, Coccidiosis or an impaction, there are meds you can use.

Keep her warm, feed soft easy to digest foods, go easy on carbohydrate treats, no hard grains for a while, good bacteria and see if she improves in several days.

Keep us posted!

 

[murphynhazel12]

Well we can't be 100% sure on this but the feed is a likely suspect! It can take a couple of weeks to show up, every bird is different in how quickly they react to food. When the good bacteria get out of balance anywhere from the crop to the vent, it can slow things down. Try using some probiotics or plain unsweetened yogurt daily for one week. You can use human, dog, cat, all probiotics are the same. Don't over do them, it only takes a bit. One capsule of human stuff dumped in one quart of water is fine. Make a new batch daily. Or a tablespoon full of plain yogurt once daily.

If this doesn't fix this in a weeks time, it either has developed into a larger yeast infection, or something other is going on...as in impaction, some internal issue or some sort of parasite problem. If it's a yeast infection, Coccidiosis or an impaction, there are meds you can use.

Keep her warm, feed soft easy to digest foods, go easy on carbohydrate treats, no hard grains for a while, good bacteria and see if she improves in several days.

Keep us posted!

Ok! I will give her the plain yogurt for a week daily and see how she does on that. Should I keep her separated or let her stay with the others? I will try to dampen her food but all the others might eat it instead of her (she is at the bottom of the pecking order.)

 

[TwoCrows]

Ok! I will give her the plain yogurt for a week daily and see how she does on that. Should I keep her separated or let her stay with the others? I will try to dampen her food but all the others might eat it instead of her (she is at the bottom of the pecking order.)

Is she with other Silkies? Sometimes Silkies get pretty bullied by standard birds. This said, some lower ranking birds regardless of what breeds they are with, get so bullied away from the feeders, water included, and get hungry enough to consume things that aren't even food to satisfy their hunger, or dehydrated, clogging up crops and gizzards. So make sure she is able to eat and drink ok.

This said, if she is able to feed without bullying, you might leave her with the flock unless she starts to get too sick. I usually cage birds within the flock so that their flock mates still see them. Makes for reintegration of sick birds very easy.

Also, make sure she can see ok, some silkies have so much hair in their eyes they just don't see well enough and their health suffers. Trim long feathers away from the eyes if need be.

Do you have a photo of her? She sounds adorable.

 

[TwoCrows]

Also...if you start to notice bits of grass in her poop, this very well could be a grass impaction. So be a poop checker for a while.

 

[murphynhazel12]

Is she with other Silkies? Sometimes Silkies get pretty bullied by standard birds. This said, some lower ranking birds regardless of what breeds they are with, get so bullied away from the feeders, water included, and get hungry enough to consume things that aren't even food to satisfy their hunger, or dehydrated, clogging up crops and gizzards. So make sure she is able to eat and drink ok.

This said, if she is able to feed without bullying, you might leave her with the flock unless she starts to get too sick. I usually cage birds within the flock so that their flock mates still see them. Makes for reintegration of sick birds very easy.

Also, make sure she can see ok, some silkies have so much hair in their eyes they just don't see well enough and their health suffers. Trim long feathers away from the eyes if need be.

Do you have a photo of her? She sounds adorable.

She is with other Silkies, so she doesn't really get bullied, she just gets to the food last. I will probably just let her be with them, but if she gets worse, I will separate her within the run with a cage. She is very adorable! This is kind of an old photo though. (She is even cuter now!)