Impacted and/or Sour crop treatment

[Winderdear]

I have read this article by @azygous, and have a question regarding this passage:

If the crop is full and hard and lumpy and the chicken has been drinking lots of water and it smells like sauerkraut, you likely have an impacted crop that has developed a yeast infection. You will be treating the impacted crop first, followed by treatment for the yeast infection.

My hen (who has a slow crop probably due to molting) has a firm crop about the size of a tennis ball which smells like bad gas. It doesn’t smell sour or like fermented food, but it does smell foul. As she drinks more water, the contents of the crop seem to become softer and easier to move around, I feel like it breaks apart and disperses in the fluid, rather than being one solid lump. Other than the crop being big and smelly, the hen has lots of energy and no decrease in appetite.

My husband believes her crop is impacted and sour, but I question whether there is impaction.

We started giving this hen miconazole last night, 1/2” from the tube twice a day. She will only take it smeared on scrambled egg.

We monitor her all day, feed her scrambled egg and lots of water, and give her hourly 5-10 minute massages. She poops every hour or so, usually water with some dark chunks, sometimes just water and urates. Food and water are getting through, but the food is moving very slowly. I have poop pictures if required.

The article mentions that you need to treat the impaction first before the sour crop. Should we stop with the miconazole for now, since it requires her eating more egg in order to take it, and have her fast until the food works its way through?

We already had her fast once for 24 hours (fast was broken 1pm yesterday), and it did not make the crop completely flat, though she was pooping clear water only by the end of that time. She would not eat coconut oil chunks, which was very odd, because normally she loves them.

I don’t want to starve her unnecessarily, especially since we just did so, and because the article says to feed her soft foods if she has a yeast infection to keep digestion moving.

What should we do?

I’m grateful for any help that anyone can offer.

 

[Debbie292d]

The article mentions that you need to treat the impaction first before the sour crop. Should we stop with the miconazole for now, since it requires her eating more egg in order to take it, and have her fast until the food works its way through?

Then what I'd do in the meantime is stop the miconazole and put probiotics in her water. It's doing the same thing as miconazole just not as powerful or effective as that is.

There's one other thing that some swear by that knocks out sour crop and that's Acidified Copper Sulfate. This post by the author of a different crop article was to a new member, but explains it.

 

[azygous]

It sounds like this hen's crop is not impacted. However, impaction can be occurring farther down the digestive tract in the gizzard. This causes the crop to slow and a slow crop begins to grow yeast. Since we aren't able to see inside the chicken, we have to assume this.

Therefore, you can treat for impaction with coconut oil even though the crop appears to only have liquid in it. Since the crop is not impacted, meaning it's not rock solid, you are able to get the miconazole into the crop, and then you can treat for impaction farther down at the same time you treat the yeasty crop.

Was that clear?

 

[Winderdear]

It sounds like this hen's crop is not impacted. However, impaction can be occurring farther down the digestive tract in the gizzard. This causes the crop to slow and a slow crop begins to grow yeast. Since we aren't able to see inside the chicken, we have to assume this.

Therefore, you can treat for impaction with coconut oil even though the crop appears to only have liquid in it. Since the crop is not impacted, meaning it's not rock solid, you are able to get the miconazole into the crop, and then you can treat for impaction farther down at the same time you treat the yeasty crop.

Was that clear?

Thank you for responding! I have some more questions for you, if that’s ok.

So, we are assuming she has an impaction in her gizzard, and to treat it we will give her coconut oil at the same time as we treat her crop for the yeast infection with miconazole?

Should I withhold food for any reason, or can I continue giving her scrambled egg or perhaps yogurt?

Would a stool softener be useless for gizzard impaction?

Edit: Just to clarify, there are solids in the crop, and in the morning her crop is rock hard until she drinks water. Once she drinks the water, I can feel the solid lump break apart in the liquid as I massage her. It was golf ball sized this morning, and she had more of the same watery-with-solids poops overnight.

 

[Winderdear]

Then what I'd do in the meantime is stop the miconazole and put probiotics in her water. It's doing the same thing as miconazole just not as powerful or effective as that is.

There's one other thing that some swear by that knocks out sour crop and that's Acidified Copper Sulfate. This post by the author of a different crop article was to a new member, but explains it.

Thank you @Debbie292d!

I will give the article a read through. I’d like to keep going with the miconazole if it isn’t an issue, but it’s good to know that probiotics can help too as a backup option.

 

[Winderdear]

Thank you @Debbie292d!

I will give the article a read through. I’d like to keep going with the miconazole if it isn’t an issue, but it’s good to know that probiotics can help too as a backup option.

The link 404s for me. Is this the post you mentioned regarding directions for acidified copper sulfate?

 

[Debbie292d]

The link 404s for me. Is this the post you mentioned regarding directions for acidified copper sulfate?

Yes, you found it! (I fixed the link above too. Not sure what I had done. )

There are other articles and posts but I just liked how she put it there so consise and complete.

 

[azygous]

It's normal to find a hard lump in the crop as you are treating a crop disorder. And yes, a stool softener can be useful along with the coconut oil. As for withholding food during crop treatment, I do not recommend it. I continue to offer food and let the patient decide what and how much to eat, or not to eat. The only restrictions on food would be things that are difficult to digest or things with high carbs, which can feed the yeast.

If all fails, we can do an Epsom salt flush that will push out most stubborn obstructions.It requires tube feeding, so you may be in for a whole new adventure.

 

[Winderdear]

It's normal to find a hard lump in the crop as you are treating a crop disorder. And yes, a stool softener can be useful along with the coconut oil. As for withholding food during crop treatment, I do not recommend it. I continue to offer food and let the patient decide what and how much to eat, or not to eat. The only restrictions on food would be things that are difficult to digest or things with high carbs, which can feed the yeast.

If all fails, we can do an Epsom salt flush that will push out most stubborn obstructions.It requires tube feeding, so you may be in for a whole new adventure.

Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions, especially on the weekend. I’m so grateful!

Do you think it’s alright to let her forage supervised in the yard? Our lawn has clover, plantain, grasses, deadnettle and dandelion. I’m wondering if eating greens like this will cause her any trouble.

Just for an update, she seems very energetic this morning and her crop seems to no longer be stinky. She took her miconazole and also ate a whole scrambled egg at breakfast and is still hungry. Her crop is certainly getting smaller, and I’m hopeful that we’re on the mend.

If the crop is slow to empty, does it necessarily mean there is an impaction somewhere? I had a hen who was molting and had a slow crop (though not sour), a few weeks ago, and she completely healed after a few days of crop massages and constant monitoring. I was thinking perhaps it was just a consequence of molting for both of them, as these were their first adult molts.

 

[azygous]

Grasses are high in indigestible cellulose. So it might be better not to let her out on grass until you're sure she's got a crop that is working. But it sounds like she's definitely improving.

Molt can affect appetite. If a chicken doesn't eat enough, the crop can suffer stasis, slowing down from not enough material moving through the digestive system, kind of like a partial clog in a toilet can slow the flow and eventually require a plumber. Feeding egg is a good plan. Watch the poop. As the disorder is resolved, the poop will turn back to normal consistency.

Also, you are welcome, but a weekend for me is the same as weekdays. I rarely can tell you what day it is regardless.