Impacted, sour or dough crop?

MichelleHubs

Chirping
Jun 25, 2020
28
58
89
Oak Grove Township, Wisconsin
One of my one year old silkies (this one is from a hatchery) went broody. She's been doing great. I've had her in a pen in the house that is kept at 72 degrees. (She had several eggs under her in the coop, but had to move her into the house, now there is only one egg.)
Yesterday I noticed a very faint odor (I have a very sensitive sense of smell) I thought, she must have poopy feet, I'll need to give her a bath after this egg hatches. we are on day 18 today btw.
Today I noticed she had a slightly enlarged crop, I have never experienced this before, so I can't tell if it's doughy, or just impacted. I gave her about a tsp. of olive oil and massaged the crop. It has gone down by about one half. I took her food out and changed her water, added apple cider vinegar to the water. She seems ok, but she is thin because she has been broody for so long. No other birds are having any symptoms.
I suspect she may have decided to eat some of the nesting material maybe (soft alfalfa orchard grass)Maybe???
Her poop is dark, and she has made some big stinky ones today.
The rest of the bedding she is in right now is pine flake.
The smell reminds me of the smell when the water gets really nasty and stinky. not sour smelling, just a bad small. It's very faint though. Nothing coming out of her mouth, no smell from her mouth as far as I can tell, just a general odor. I'm thinking from her poop? Although I have removed most of it from her "cage"

Anyone have any ides if this is impacted sour or something else?
 
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How long has she been broody?

Broody poop is very stinky and they usually poop once a day.

Check her crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink. Let us know what it feels like then.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
Thank you for the reply! I am very worried as I have never experienced this before! So this morning the crop has emptied some, but there is still about a Tablespoon full of material in the crop-what's in there feels like dough I guess. The odor is almost gone. She seems in good spirits. I used a syringe to give her a little more olive oil and also a little water. She has been broody for about 19 days. I have medicated chick crumble, should I make a mash from it and try to give that to her to eat?
 
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You can make a mash out of the feed. A broody hen will usually eat only once a day.
If she's on day 19-20 then she may not even come of the nest to eat. I would still offer her fluids (make it available).
 
No more odor-I think the smell I was smelling was her poop. Just a different poop smell than what I would consider normal. Her crop wasn't too bad this afternoon so not quite as worried.
If you are checking the crop during the day when she's been eating/drinking then the crop should feel like it has something in it.
To get a good grasp on function, you will need to feel the crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink.
 
If you are checking the crop during the day when she's been eating/drinking then the crop should feel like it has something in it.
To get a good grasp on function, you will need to feel the crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink.
Yes, thank you so much for all of the info and replies, I really appreciate your help through this! Her crop went from (what I discovered first thing in the morning a few days ago) a giant hard mass, almost baseball sized that was bulging out down to (finally) normal. She is better now. I am grateful for the responses during what felt to me like a crisis for my little silkie hen. Seems that the olive oil, crop massages, forcing some drinks of water with apple cider vinegar (with the mother), then on the following 2 days- some warm watery feed mash did the trick. I am so relieved! I believe what happened was she decided to eat a bit of her nest material which is orchard grass. I read that the way to tell if they have sour crop is that it smells like sauerkraut. There was also no burping or throwing up during any of this. This was a learning experience for me, as I mentioned my first time dealing with this. Hoping that if anyone else is in this same situation some day this info will help.
 

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