I Could Use Some Direction for Sour Crop

[Adolph Otto]

My hen has sour crop again after recovering 2 weeks ago. This time much more stubborn. She would puke whenever I picked her up. I've had her separated since Friday (this will be day 6). Still not empty this morning, although significantly smaller than when first noticed. Water balloon texture. Treating w/Monistat. She resists direct oral application pretty vehemently, so I've been mixing it in scrambled egg or wet feed.
I threw out most of a bag of feed (Kalmbach layer crumble) because it was what she was eating prior to both instances. I noticed there were some clumps in it. Any help appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Most of the time when I have seen a chronic crop problem, the hen has something else going on that first caused the crop issue. I see that she has a pendulous crop, and that you have used the usual treatments that @azygous and @Wyorp Rock recommend. They are better at crop problems, and @coach723 is also good. I am linking your previous thread about your hen from last month:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-this-sour-crop-and-what-should-i-do-next.1647366/page-2

 

[Adolph Otto]

Thank you. An interesting thing happened with this girl. She is a nearly 3 year old English Orp. She is my least productive layer, about 2-3 eggs/week.
However, she was attacked by a coyote this passed summer, and pretty severely injured. The dog ripped all her tail feathers out and left a gaping wound; so bad that I could see her guts and expected to lose her. But I treated her and she recovered and started laying every day!
This lasted a couple of weeks until she began a molt and stopped laying until just recently (I supplement light).
So I have a hunch something went awry with her reproduction system from the attack.
Thanks for the alert!
Stephen

 

[Eggcessive]

Let us know how she gets along. I have had no success treating birds who go down this road. Once the crop becomes sour, it is a real challenge to treat. Some use acidified copper sulfate 1/4 tsp per gallon of water for 3-5 days, if other conventional treatments have failed. Use a plastic container, not a galvanized or metal drinker. You can get it here among other places:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/acidified_copper_sulfate.html

 

[Adolph Otto]

Let us know how she gets along. I have had no success treating birds who go down this road. Once the crop becomes sour, it is a real challenge to treat. Some use acidified copper sulfate 1/4 tsp per gallon of water for 3-5 days, if other conventional treatments have failed. Use a plastic container, not a galvanized or metal drinker. You can get it here among other places:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/acidified_copper_sulfate.html

OK. By "no success," do you mean it'll kill her eventually? And thanks for that link.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My hen has sour crop again after recovering 2 weeks ago. This time much more stubborn. She would puke whenever I picked her up. I've had her separated since Friday (this will be day 6). Still not empty this morning, although significantly smaller than when first noticed. Water balloon texture. Treating w/Monistat. She resists direct oral application pretty vehemently, so I've been mixing it in scrambled egg or wet feed.
I threw out most of a bag of feed (Kalmbach layer crumble) because it was what she was eating prior to both instances. I noticed there were some clumps in it. Any help appreciated.
Thanks.

Are you giving the Monistat twice a day?

 

[Adolph Otto]

Are you giving the Monistat twice a day?

Yes I am. I put her back w the "flock" last night (2 others).

 

[Eggcessive]

OK. By "no success," do you mean it'll kill her eventually? And thanks for that link.

The ones I have had with severe crop issues did not recover. But their necropsies showed varied issues from reproductive disease, ascites, cancer, or gizzard blockage among others. I have not dealt with a pendulous crop before. Others are more experienced with crop problems, so I defer to them.

 

[coach723]

Everything said up to now is all good info. I've had birds with crop issues, and my experience is pretty much the same. The only backed up crops that I've been able to resolve have been caused by parasite loads, and were able to clear once the parasites were taken care of. Those caused by reproductive issues (which is a common cause) don't really get better. I have had a few birds that developed pendulous crop and was able to keep them going with a crop bra. If the crop gets stretched out for some reason, genetics, a piggy eater, or a transient problem that resolves, then it generally does not go back to normal and will not empty properly. A crop bra can help. The only way to know is to try it. It may take several days to a week to see any improvement, if you are going to get any. When putting one on it can take some trial and error, and many adjustments to get it right, and usually you have to put it on looser at first, so as to not force contents up, and as the crop goes down, you can slowly bring it tighter to maintain a more normal crop size. See post #9 here for some more explanation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/blocked-crop.1484926/#post-24762420
Below is a picture of one of my hens that lived for about 2 years with a crop bra due to pendulous crop. Inked to show where it's tied, you can also see the ends of the ties sticking up on her back wrapped in black co wrap, to keep her and others from picking at them. The bottom of the bra should be comfortably snug against the keel so that they can't get their feet or legs caught in it, leave the top looser until the crop goes down some. Some birds tolerate it pretty well, some don't, and there can be an adjustment period where they may act abnormal while they get used to it. Keep an eye on her until that passes or it could possibly draw attacks from flockmates. Once it's been accepted and she's used to it, then it really passes without notice.

 

[Adolph Otto]

Everything said up to now is all good info. I've had birds with crop issues, and my experience is pretty much the same. The only backed up crops that I've been able to resolve have been caused by parasite loads, and were able to clear once the parasites were taken care of. Those caused by reproductive issues (which is a common cause) don't really get better. I have had a few birds that developed pendulous crop and was able to keep them going with a crop bra. If the crop gets stretched out for some reason, genetics, a piggy eater, or a transient problem that resolves, then it generally does not go back to normal and will not empty properly. A crop bra can help. The only way to know is to try it. It may take several days to a week to see any improvement, if you are going to get any. When putting one on it can take some trial and error, and many adjustments to get it right, and usually you have to put it on looser at first, so as to not force contents up, and as the crop goes down, you can slowly bring it tighter to maintain a more normal crop size. See post #9 here for some more explanation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/blocked-crop.1484926/#post-24762420
Below is a picture of one of my hens that lived for about 2 years with a crop bra due to pendulous crop. Inked to show where it's tied, you can also see the ends of the ties sticking up on her back wrapped in black co wrap, to keep her and others from picking at them. The bottom of the bra should be comfortably snug against the keel so that they can't get their feet or legs caught in it, leave the top looser until the crop goes down some. Some birds tolerate it pretty well, some don't, and there can be an adjustment period where they may act abnormal while they get used to it. Keep an eye on her until that passes or it could possibly draw attacks from flockmates. Once it's been accepted and she's used to it, then it really passes without notice.
View attachment 4029271

Thank you, Coach for this info. Your bird looks very similatr to mine. English Orp? Same color. Her crop seemed to have gone down last night. It was her first night in 5 that she was back in the coop and I didn't get out in time to check it before she ate. She's acting completely normal today in the run. I have 1 more Monistat dose today and 2 tomorrow, which will complete the 7 days. I will post back.
Thanks again!