Impacted crop vs sour crop... Total recovery thanks!

[Godiva]

OK, I posted earlier about our hen that is not well, no answers yet but have been doing a lot of reading the last few hours. By the sound of it an impacted crop is hard and distended? And sour crop is mushy and distended? Is this correct? Is the food moving at all in sour crop? What should I look for to help me make a 'definite' diagnosis? I wish there was a sticky with home treatment specifics for both of these. I have read dozens of posts and still don't have a very clear picture of what I am looking for. ( I am obviously missing the ones with all the info)

I am planning on heading down to the coop really early to check on Sonnet's crop. She was hiding out on the nest again tonight, will have to try and find a cardboard box to put her in as the dog kennel is occupied right now with a determined broody. I am guessing that Sonnet has sour crop as it is mushy in consistency. Would grass clippings (we have a mulching mower) do this? Or clover not cut up small? DD took a big bag of it in to the banties a couple days ago? Also have added hay to their run about 5 days ago... Please advise me...

 

[NotTheMomma]

Possible it ate too much of hte mulched grass and caused a slight impaction, but I'm not sure. HOpefully someoen will come by that can help!

Good luck!

 

[NotTheMomma]

Ook, I see noone else has answered.

My understanding of the two (I could be wrong!!!) if that an impacted crop will be very hard, and distended. Waiting overnight to see if it goes down doesn't help, when it should.

Sour crop, there is an odor, liquid sometimes from the mouth, crop might be distended but more mushy feeling. Waiting overnight for it to go down, and it doesn't. Chick typically doesn't want to eat.

There maybe more info if you do a serach on here for the two.

I hope someone else does respond, because I'm not certain I'm correctly with my memory!

 

[chickie momma di]

hi having a crop problem with my hen also. try to go to the top and google swolen crop and click on the 1st offering. there was good info there. maybe it will help you.

 

[chickie momma di]

the site to check out is foul facts
just saw on a diff post pg 4 or 5

 

[Judy]

Go to Index, then FAQ's. Scroll down and you will find links to several threads about impacted/sour crop.

Yes, grass clippings and hay can cause crop problems, although plenty of people give grass clippings and use hay for bedding. I have used hay for a year without a problem. And of course chickens eat grass all the time.


Good luck.

 

[DarkWolf]

I found these bits of wisdom while mucking about the interweb.

http://www.1976design.com/blog/archive/2004/04/16/sour-crop/
http://www.poultryhelp.com/impactedcrop.html

 

[JewellFarm]

We had a rooster with a sour crop a few weeks ago. We caught it too late. He was already week and ended up dying. If you don't get the crop cleared out yours may also. Give it olive oil, sometimes that will lubricate the crop and get all that impacted goo to moving. Ours was from grass clipping also. That is a big NO NO. I learned this the hard way.

 

[chickie momma di]

dear godiva
contact or check out the post by Jeaucamom. she has pics and looks like she did a good job.

 

[Jenski]

Godiva, large piles of grass clippings could indeed block the crop and cause things to back up. It may be hard to tell if you have crop stasis or an impaction if the blockage is from grass, since it will be somewhat squishy.

The danger is that once that gunk has been fermenting for a couple of days, you really don't want that rotting, toxic stuff passing through the digestive system. My vet would probably palpate the crop very well to detect possible blockage, suction a small amount of the contents up to evaluate what it is, and then turn the bird over, squeeze the crop and work the contents up the throat and out the mouth -- rather nasty process, like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.

This is a risky thing to attempt, so I am not necessarily recommending you try it. Just use your own judgment. If you have a vet in your area I would probably recommend the vet first.

Every day counts when you are fixing a crop issue, so I hope you are able to resolve soon. Please keep us posted.