My golden campine has SOUR CROP! "UPDATED"

[FlockMama]

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Thank you very much for your concern of Porkus. I will look into the medicine on line and read up about it. I will post her conditon to follow.....

 

[FlockMama]

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So far Porkus has been inside for almost a week. You would never know by looking at her that she has a problem. Her crop has went down considerably and really there is just some gritty feeling stuff inside. She is pooping and the poopy smells sour so I am wondering if I am getting the sour crop to pass through. This morning she had some scrambled eggs, just a little since I have only been feeding her little bits at a time, but boy does she have an appetite. She sure wants to be outside. I am usually able to be home all day but our work is starting to pick up so some days I am gone a long time. I will have the whole weekend home so will be able to monitor her a lot. She sure is being a good girl. I wish I knew that if the poopies she is having is actually the stuff in crop passing through.

Let me know how your surgery goes. Let me know what you get out of the crop too.

You know when I first noticed her crop it was so huge you could just see it while she was standing there, now you can't. I wonder if it can get streched out from being so big. Like I said it is 3/4 the size smaller then when I first started this. I haven't done a second flush yet but might try one more time. I am aware of the potential of aspiration but feel that the vet would do the same for her as I would. Actually I am very mad at my Avian vet right now. (My iguana of 10 years passed away in December and I am not happy with how the vet had treated him) , he won't even give me advice he just says oh it can be so many things to make her crop sour etc etc...

Anyway I hope all goes well for you today.

Thank you for all your advice.

 

[FlockMama]

Hi all. I am writing an update in case anyone would want to use this information in the future. I didn't get many replies on what to do in this situation but I did do a lot of reading on old posts and the internet....

So anyway Porkus is doing great! I had her inside for a week. Yesterday I put her out with her buddies and she was so happy. Her crop is doing great so far. I am hoping that is will stay down. This morning it was finally back to normal after days of working with her and giving her special treatment.

I hope it all works out okay, today was her first day back on real food so I will check her crop in the morning.....

Thanks BYC for all your info and hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[NancyinAlaska]

I am happy it all worked out for you!!

 

[aveca]

Sour crop s a lot easier to deal with than impacted crop. There is a step by step how to in vet X they hold the bird under thier arm lean the head downward toward the ground and lightly massage the crop and litterally they throw up the contents but they only do it for a very breif period and then after a short rest they do it again and the stuff that comes out of there is pretty awful. Crop impaction is oil in eye droppers to help loosen. and make sure pleantly of grits especially in winter. If they dont find enugh of the right sized grits they will eat the smaller sand and it doesnt do as efficient job as the larger grits , look at the size of the grits that you can buy. that should be what they are offered. sometimes it will remedy itself sometimes you need to help.

Gld your bird is better. Youll probably have to keep an eye on that one

 

[Quillgirl]

Flushing the crop seems to have worked well for you. I've also had good results recently with the following:

Bring the bird inside and confine with a tank of ACV water (1 tbsp in 1 gallon of water)

Induce vomit by holding bird head-down (hold in arms, bend at your waist until bird's head is down, massage crop and allow contents to empty for a moment, then upright to rest/breath, forward again.) My bird was vomiting on her own anytime she leaned over, she was so full!

Withhold food for 24 hours, but not water.

Ask vet or pediatrician/physician to prescribe infant Nystatin oral drops at your local Pharmacy. THis is a medication that kills yeast in the digestive tract but does not penetrate the stomach lining. (Typically used for thrush infections in babies.) It will not go into your bird's blood stream to get in eggs, but will destroy the yeast build-up in the crop. Cost is about $17. Also pick up some OTC baby mylicon drops (for gas.) Give your bird a tiny bit of bread saturated with 1 drop of Nystatin 4x a day for 4 days. And a bit of bread with 1 drop of mylicon 2-3x a day for 1-2 days as needed. (I do bread to be certain the bird eats the full dose and it doesn't get wasted in a food mix.) The Nystatin will begin to work in about 48 hours, the mylicon will reduce the gassy gurgling pretty quickly. During the first 48 hours feed the bird only small amounts of soft unsweetened food, and preferrably things that aren't made with grain except the little pieces of bread with meds. (I like plain yogurt, scrambled egg, baby food meat/pumpkin/peas/spinach.)

After the first 48 hours, you should begin to see some large, mucous-y poops as the contents of the sloppy crop begin passing. As the crop deflates, you can try adding cooked/soft oatmeal or soaked crumbles to your food mix. See how it goes. Continue the Mystatin drops on bread for the full 4 days, and up to 5 to be certain all yeast is killed with no lingering pockets.

This regime worked beautifully on my bird, who had a crop the size of a softball! She is back to her old self in 48 hours.

 

[puppypaws]

First time posting - I just wanted to say thanks for all the information that I have been able to gather over this past year. My daughter will probably be using this more than I will, just because she is the little 4-Her. So any further help would be greatly appreciated! We have seven chickens, two Americanas, one Lakenvelder, one buff Brama Bantam, two Copper Marans and one Blue Maran. I actually have a question for today, the Buff Brama (her name is Mama) she has a sour crop and is on medication, do you have any suggestions on what to feed her? Her weight is down... Thank you in advance!

Susan and Sara

 

[cpgracefulhorse]

My mom (jeaucamom) is a nurse and she had to do a crop surgery on my chicken and she is a mommy now!! well any way she could tell stuff like that.she is always on her. good luck

 

[Quillgirl]

Surgery is only necessary when the crop has an impaction, not just for sour crop. If you suspect impaction (food isn't passing, or all that passes is watery with very minimal solids, or you can palpatate a hard mass near the base of the crop) you can find threads that describe the procedure to open and remove the blockage. My hen did not have an impaction, just sour crop.

For food: soft everything. Try to make sure the foods are not grain or sweet to begin with because it feeds yeast. So: yogurt, scrambled egg, baby food meat and vegetables like spinach/pumpkin/carrot/peas; ricotta cheese. As she began to recover I added small amounts of cooked soft oatmeal, cream of wheat, wet crumbles, even a couple pieces of soaked high quality dog kibble, shreds of cheese. Just move slowly, and it's better to feed small amounts several times a day rather than a large amount all at once until the crop deflates to normal size. Patience is the hardest thing to do, but it works along with the meds.

Some people swear by baby parrot food for hens that are not eating, and are wasting. It's high in calories and protein. I haven't had to use it as my hen had an appetite, just got a big squishy crop when she ate.

 

[puppypaws]

Thankyou so much for your feed back. She seems to be doing better, eating scrambled egg and drinking natural yogurt. I will get some baby food today. The open mouth stretch she does is worrisome.

Thanks again