Help! Hen with possible sour crop and worms.

[tarahharlin]

My 2 1/2 year old Speckled Sussex hen is going on day 3 of a fairly full crop in the mornings. Today I noticed her breath is smelling yeasty and slightly stinky, so I'm thinking I should go ahead and start treating her for sour crop and actually gave her one dose (1cc) of monistat this morning. However, in the past few days, she's only been pooping a very small amount and it's all white and this morning, I thought I might have noticed what looks like a worm in two of her all white poops, though I'm not sure. Since this all came on so suddenly and part of me feels like something is blocking her on the inside, I am thinking I should go ahead and deworm just in case. My question is....can I deworm her and treat her for sour crop at the same time? If her crop isn't emptying and she's not pooping much, will the dewormer work and is it okay to use?

 

[tarahharlin]

I was able to get a pic of her poop and the stringy thing in the lower left looks like a worm to me.

@TwoCrows You’ve given me some great advice in the past...would you be able to help me with this?

 

[TwoCrows]

Sorry you are having trouble with your bird!

There are SO many reasons a crop becomes slow and or yeasty and many times it's caused by something other than the crop. So we treat the things we can that can contribute to the slow crop. Of course there are many reasons a birds crop slows and we can't fix them...internal laying, reproductive cancer, liver disease, heart disease, all of which will slow a crop down to a crawl. So we do the things we can.

It never hurts to worm as worms impact the intestines and do slow down the movement of food out of the crop. So definitely worm if you haven't done so this year. Use a good wormer like Safeguard to get a wide variety of worms. .2ml per pound of bird, once a day for 4 or 5 days. (so a 5 pound bird would be dosed 1m once a day) You might take a poop sample into the vet to be sure what you are dealing with.
@casportpony Do you see Tape Worms? I think I might?

Yes, you can treat for worms and use the Vaginal cream at the same time. Use the Monistat 3 times a day so the yeast don't become immune. Use it for 1 week. You may need to use something a bit more potent like Acidified Copper Sulfate for 7 days. This will kill off all yeasts in the crop and intestines along with some bacteria in the intestines that might also be slowing things down.

If none of this helped I might try Corid if all else failed. Coccidiosis will surely clog up the intestines.

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony Do you see Tape Worms? I think I might?

I see at least one:

 

[TwoCrows]

I see at least one:
View attachment 1525595

Thanks Kathy, I thought that looked like a tape, but didn't want to make the call for sure. Does she need something other than Safeguard to kill Tapes? I have never had a case of Tapes so Safeguard has been all Ive ever needed.

 

[TwoCrows]

@tarahharlin I think worming is where you should start. The monistat can't hurt to keep the yeasts at bay while you worm until they are all cleared out.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks Kathy, I thought that looked like a tape, but didn't want to make the call for sure. Does she need something other than Safeguard to kill Tapes? I have never had a case of Tapes so Safeguard has been all Ive ever needed.

There are studies that say Safeguard and Valbazen treat some tapes, but something with praziquantel in it would be best. If she were mine I would get a tube of Equimax horse paste. Speckled Sussex are large birds I think, so I would give ~0.25 ml (1/4 cc) orally. The 0.25 ml amount is about the size of a frozen pea.

 

[TwoCrows]

There are studies that say Safeguard and Valbazen treat some tapes, but something with praziquantel in it would be best. If she were mine I would get a tube of Equimax horse paste. Speckled Sussex are large birds I think, so I would give ~0.25 ml (1/4 cc) orally. The 0.25 ml amount is about the size of a frozen pea.
View attachment 1525606

Fabulous! Thanks Kathy!

 

[tarahharlin]

Sorry you are having trouble with your bird!

There are SO many reasons a crop becomes slow and or yeasty and many times it's caused by something other than the crop. So we treat the things we can that can contribute to the slow crop. Of course there are many reasons a birds crop slows and we can't fix them...internal laying, reproductive cancer, liver disease, heart disease, all of which will slow a crop down to a crawl. So we do the things we can.

It never hurts to worm as worms impact the intestines and do slow down the movement of food out of the crop. So definitely worm if you haven't done so this year. Use a good wormer like Safeguard to get a wide variety of worms. .2ml per pound of bird, once a day for 4 or 5 days. (so a 5 pound bird would be dosed 1m once a day) You might take a poop sample into the vet to be sure what you are dealing with.
@casportpony Do you see Tape Worms? I think I might?

Yes, you can treat for worms and use the Vaginal cream at the same time. Use the Monistat 3 times a day so the yeast don't become immune. Use it for 1 week. You may need to use something a bit more potent like Acidified Copper Sulfate for 7 days. This will kill off all yeasts in the crop and intestines along with some bacteria in the intestines that might also be slowing things down.

If none of this helped I might try Corid if all else failed. Coccidiosis will surely clog up the intestines.

Thanks so much for your reply! So, you think that stringy worm in the lower left looks like a tapeworm? Eek. I do have Valbazen on hand. Would that also be okay to use? What’s your take on her all white poop? Is that all just urates?

 

[tarahharlin]

There are studies that say Safeguard and Valbazen treat some tapes, but something with praziquantel in it would be best. If she were mine I would get a tube of Equimax horse paste. Speckled Sussex are large birds I think, so I would give ~0.25 ml (1/4 cc) orally. The 0.25 ml amount is about the size of a frozen pea.
View attachment 1525606

Thanks Kathy! I will head on down to our feed store to see if they have this. She’s on the smaller size for a SS. I’d say she’s about 5 lbs, but I will weigh her when I get home. Can that paste be disguised in food, or is it best to syringe?