I think it's Sour Crop **UPDATE-further problem

[BWchicken]

For at least the last two days one of my 7 month old EE bantams has had a large soft squishy crop that seems to be sort of drooped down. She hasn't laid for the last two days either, but I did find a paper-shell egg that had been dropped from the roost this morning, maybe hers, but can't be sure.

I've done a lot of reading about sour crop tonight and I understand the part about withholding food, adding soft foods slowly, etc. But I want to know if it can be treated without inducing the vomiting. I've seen horrible stories about people who tried it and aspirated or drowned their hens by accident. I don't want to risk it. Can't the material in the crop be passed through and eliminated by the chicken's body instead of forcing it out the beak? I've read that massage and a strong mixture of ACV can help with this? Thanks for your help.

 

[eastbaychicks]

I have heard people begging others to not induce vomiting as well. I have only had one experience with sour crop and it was due to an impacted crop.... I hope someone answers this question. I know I tried ACV and it did seem to help out.

 

[chickencoop31320]

Quote:
I haven't had this problem yet...
I have heard that Sulmet might help.
It is a antiseptic and is mixed in the water.
You can find it in the feed store.
$12 a bottle... I picked some up for just in case, I like to be prepared

I hope someone else can answer and can be more help.

 

[SilkieTime]

I Have a young one with the same thing and this is my first sick chicken.

I've be reading all night long. Just found her like this last night and she was not like this the day before.she is inside with just ACV and water tonight. I have done every thing I can for her tonight and I'll see what she looks like tomorrow. I'm scared to death for both of us.

 

[paintedpoultry]

Please bear in mind that this advice is what I would do but I am not a vet, just a chicken keeper who has some experience of this problem. Other keepers may give different advice. I am telling you what has worked for me.

When I have this problem I do not use ACV because the contents of the crop are already acid. I use a little bicarbonate of soda dissolved in water instead, which counteracts acidity. For the same reason I do not use yogurt, which would soon "go bad" in the crop. I bring the bird in and put it on a bed of a paper sack - the sort which animal feed comes in. This is the only bedding material - anything else, including newspaper, they will eat and make the problem worse! A chicken with a blocked crop will be ravenously hungry. This sack needs changing once or twice a day so you need a good supply of them. I feed them on porridge with, again, a little bicarbonate of soda added, and some oil. I feed early to midday and do not give them anything afternoon to evening - they do not want to be eating too much at this stage. Whenever I can I massage the crop gently to break up the contents, making a mental note of what the contents feel like, how hard they are, and if you think there is something like grass in there as well as fluid and rather rather sour food and fluid.

If on massaging I feel that the crop contents are rather hard and not squishy, I make up a solution of water, a bit of bicarbonate of soda and oil (cooking oil is fine) and syringe it into the bird first thing in the morning, then massage as often as I can to break up the contents and make them more runny. Warning - this will probably give your chicken very runny poo, so you will need to change that paper sack often (but this is what you want - food going on through).

I have made birds sick on several occasions and they have not suffocated. I feel it is important to massage first until the contents are truly squishy and runny to make sure that I am not trying to get the bird to pass up an unmanageble lump. Making sick may not be necessary if I keep feeding and massaging as above. On induced vomiting, I notice that if they are vomiting quite a volume they will shake their head violently to get rid of it quickly this way.

Once the contents are gone - either gone through or through induced vomiting, I keep them on the above regime and only gradually introduce chicken food, mixed with the porridge. I make sure they have plenty of grit right through this procedure. When they eventually go back outside, I make sure the grass is cut as short as possible and, again, plenty of grit.

The other route is to take it to the vet and have it operated on to remove the contents of the crop. Either way it is worth doing, to my mind, although I know I may not win out in the end- it is possible that the gizzard may be impacted and therefore things may never be right. Worth a try though - there is the chance of ending up with a healthy bird.

In generally, I try to make sure they have not got access to long grass if I can, and that I do not give mouldy food my mistake.

Hope this helps.

 

[BWchicken]

Thanks so much for the replies. I think I may have more of a problem than I thought. I checked her crop early yesterday morning and the huge squishiness was completely gone but her crop was full and hard. Impaction. Her crop should have been empty that early in the morning. So I brought her in the house and withheld food for 24 hours, but gave olive oil, strong ACV water, and massaged. Thankfully the impaction passed and her crop was flat this morning. I've fed her twice today small amounts of egg and yogurt, and the food is passing through, so the crop is working. But here's the problem. When she eats, even these small amounts, her crop seems all spread out and droopy. Not at all taut. Like the soft food is all over, not in the usual tight ball. It seems to cover her whole chest and drooping down lower than it should be. But her crop did seem nice and tight around the impaction yesterday morning. Her crop is working, but will it ever go back taut again? Has her crop been stretched out permanently from the impaction? Please tell me how to treat this. For now, I'm feeding small amounts (egg, yogurt) 3 times a day, and she's still very hungry, but I'm hoping her crop will repair itself if she doesn't overfill it? I really don't know what I should be doing at this point, can anyone help?

 

[SilkieTime]

I called Peter Brown at 1-410-546-6137 yesterday and he answered all my questions of what to do. I did call 4 different time to talk to him. My order should come in on Sat. Sour Crop something she eat soured in there so we have to fix it. He told me just feed and water. No ACV no holding feed. Copper sulfate not the kind for ponds. Or something else, I ordered the somthing else. Call and he will help you out. Good luck

 

[paintedpoultry]

If a crop has been blocked with a lot of material it will be pendulous afterwards. I would keep an eye on it and massage if it is looking full again. The contents may have difficult in pass out of the pendulous bit at the bottom.

 

[BWchicken]

Okay, I read about pendulous crop and that seems to be the case with my girl. But does a pendulous crop ever tone back up? Hers seems to be VERY slowly regaining some shape and it does empty overnight so I'm happy about that. She's still in the house and I'm feeding her 4 times a day now, small amounts at a time, no crumbles yet (just egg, yogurt, baby food with polyvisol and ACV). I give her about 3-5 tablespoons at a time (she's a bantam). I'm afraid to feed her too much at a time and stretch her crop back out since it seems to be starting to tone up a bit. But because of the smaller amounts of food, she is losing weight. I feel kind of darned if I do, darned if I don't. Also she still has diarrhea, clear liquid with a few bits of green/brown chunks. Sometimes she passes white liquid urates too. I'm still not sure if I'm doing anything right here, but wanted to post an update on her. Any ideas?

 

[SC_Hugh]

We just did crop surgery on one of our 10 month old pullets (4 hours ago). Our hen had a impacted crop that would let some food and water go by, but it would still be very large in the morning (sure sign of a problem).

What we found inside her crop was a 6-8" long fibrous strand of grassy junk, it would not digest and it wouldn't pass. She is drinking water and eating lay pellets dissolved in water and some plain yogurt on the side. So far, so good.

--Hugh