Hen has sour crop--Help me out here, please.

[earlybird10842]

I had been keeping an eye on my year and a half old Easter Egger, Margaret for a few weeks, since she didn't seem to be as active. I checked for things like fly strike and egg yolk peritonitis, but didn't think about crop problems until today. I picked her up and noticed her muff stank and was soaking. To examine it, I ended up having to turn her belly-up to see if her underside was wet too, and nasty yellowish liquid poured out of her beak. I immediately realized she must be having crop problems. Probably, in this case, this would be sour crop, right? I have never dealt with this before and have heard lots of advice, some of it contradictory, particularly that about olive oil. Also, we can give her medication, but we cannot get to an avian vet.
She has been losing a bit of weight, but not to the point where I was really worried. I just noticed today that she isn't attracted to food at all, not even table scraps.
She is only a bit less active, she is hard to catch and harder to examine. I am hoping this means she is fine and I have plenty of time to try and treat this, right?
Thanks,
Earlybird.

 

[Eggcessive]

I don't know much about sour crop except that it can be due to both bacterial and fungal infections. Most times it is a result of long-standing impacted crop. Many chickens with other problems can have a full, squishy, slow-moving crop--this can be common with coccidiosis and Mareks disease among others. If the material was truly foul-smelling then she probably has sour crop. I have heard that some treat it with fluconazole and nystatin, as well as probiotics. Some use miconazole cream orally,or monistat suppositories cut into pieces. As long as the crop is not emptying, it is best to feed liquid or very soft foods, such as egg, apple sauce, small amt of plain yogurt, and lots of water--no whole grains. A vet would be your best bet especially for the antibiotics (if indicated) and antifungal medicines, but here are some links to read :
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html
http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/sour-crop

 

[earlybird10842]

I don't know much about sour crop except that it can be due to both bacterial and fungal infections. Most times it is a result of long-standing impacted crop. Many chickens with other problems can have a full, squishy, slow-moving crop--this can be common with coccidiosis and Mareks disease among others. If the material was truly foul-smelling then she probably has sour crop. I have heard that some treat it with fluconazole and nystatin, as well as probiotics. Some use miconazole cream orally,or monistat suppositories cut into pieces. As long as the crop is not emptying, it is best to feed liquid or very soft foods, such as egg, apple sauce, small amt of plain yogurt, and lots of water--no whole grains. A vet would be your best bet especially for the antibiotics (if indicated) and antifungal medicines, but here are some links to read :
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html
http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/sour-crop

Yeah, it really did stink. All of my other chickens are perfectly healthy, however. Should I turn her over and let her throw up that whatever it is, or could that hurt her?

 

[Eggcessive]

Read the links where they instruct on doing this. Vomiting is commonly done, but it is very dangerous, and if not done properly with periods to let the chicken upright to breathe, they can aspirate and choke to death on crop contents. As I said, I haven't treated it, but have read where many have lost chickens while performing this.

 

[earlybird10842]

I've traced the problem back to some wet food that got moldy.
She's doing fine right now, still seems to be vomiting occasionally because her muff and crop area is soaked. I'm going to try and give her bread and olive oil with garlic, put some baking soda in the water and see if she begins to improve. Hopefully none of the other chickens get this, but they all seem to be doing fine.