Help! Hen with sour Crop and watery yellow poop

[1 true Phoenix]

One of our sweet lohman brown hens has been acting kind of lethargic and has poop that is watery with yellow in it. I picked her up and noticed her crop felt full of mainly water with maybe a couple of pieces of corn and she seemed to swallow back the fluid when I was feeling her crop. I have her inside with a heat lamp and let her have some acv water. I plan to see how her crop feels in the morning but am not sure what is causing the watery yellow poop. I've dealt with blackhead in turkeys but never with the chickens. Not sure how to treat this one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[1 true Phoenix]

This morning all the liquid is gone but there is still food in her crop... does that mean she's impacted? I've read a few things and some say to use dulcolax, I'm guessing I should try that next... can anyone advise on this? I am posting pics of her poo from this morning.

 

[Matilda Belle]

Here are my notes on sour crop:

Sour Crop
Symptoms: In the morning, a chicken’s crop should be flat. If it is full in the morning and feels squishy or boggy, it may be sour crop. Other symptoms may include decreased appetite, diarrhea, sour smell coming from the mouth, white patches in the mouth, hunched up position/change in behavior.
Treatment: Remove food for 12 hours. Offer water with probiotics only. Gently massage crop from top to bottom every couple of hours. Offer some scrambled eggs with plain yogurt. If after 12 hours the crop is empty, add pellet food to yogurt. The chicken may need to be treated for a few days.

 

[azygous]

You may be dealing with something more serious than a crop issue, which can be a secondary infection from that larger issue. The larger issue here could be EYP, a reproductive infection from a ruptured egg or internal laying.

It won't hurt to introduce some coconut oil into her crop to see if that might improve her. Give her about a teaspoon of oil and do a gentle massage to try to break up the solid mass. Do another teaspoon later if the crop doesn't empty. The Dulcolax is a final measure when the oil doesn't work.

On the chance this is a ruptured egg, give a calcium tablet to help her flush out the egg material if this might be the issue. An antibiotic is usually also given when a reproductive infection is suspected, but it might be better to wait since an antibiotic could make a crop issue worse.

 

[1 true Phoenix]

You may be dealing with something more serious than a crop issue, which can be a secondary infection from that larger issue. The larger issue here could be EYP, a reproductive infection from a ruptured egg or internal laying.

It won't hurt to introduce some coconut oil into her crop to see if that might improve her. Give her about a teaspoon of oil and do a gentle massage to try to break up the solid mass. Do another teaspoon later if the crop doesn't empty. The Dulcolax is a final measure when the oil doesn't work.

On the chance this is a ruptured egg, give a calcium tablet to help her flush out the egg material if this might be the issue. An antibiotic is usually also given when a reproductive infection is suspected, but it might be better to wait since an antibiotic could make a crop issue worse.

Thank you for your response... Her poop this morning is actually more of a pale yellow, the flash must have made it look brighter... I don't know if that makes a difference. I let her drink a little water this morning and the food in her crop is not balled up, it feels like corn and sunflower seeds and maybe some of her laying pellets. She seems very hungry, can I give her baby bird formula since the liquids drain overnight?
We planned on deworming the whole flock with valbezen today, we just gave them all safeguard about 10 days ago. Should I give her valbezen and should I still do coconut oil and a tums tablet? Anything else I can try? Is this maybe just slow crop instead of impacted or sour? I'm posting a pic of her most recent poo/ no flash.

 

[azygous]

It won't hurt to do all of the above.

 

[1 true Phoenix]

ok...Also wondering if I should put some grit in her cage to see if she will eat it to help her crop break down the corn and sunflower seeds...

 

[Eggcessive]

Be sure not to use Dulcolax laxative, but the stool softener. Dulcolax is a brand name, usually for laxative, but they also make a stool softener called docusate sodium, doss, or a more popular brand called Colace. In the past, there has been something called crop bound capsules that were sold online which are basically stool softener. Coconut oil, refrigerated and cut into small pieces is a very safe digestive lubricant to use.

 

[1 true Phoenix]

Be sure not to use Dulcolax laxative, but the stool softener. Dulcolax is a brand name, usually for laxative, but they also make a stool softener called docusate sodium, doss, or a more popular brand called Colace. In the past, there has been something called crop bound capsules that were sold online which are basically stool softener. Coconut oil, refrigerated and cut into small pieces is a very safe digestive lubricant to use.

Thanks for letting me know about the dulcolax... looks like I got the laxative... I'll just give her the coconut oil first and see if that helps. Any ideas on whether or not I should offer her grit... I have the chick grit and regular grit.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can have some grit available if she wants or needs it. If she has had access to it before, she may not need any yet.