My hen has sour crop which led to our discovery of pundulous crop. Help! I still have questions!

[DixiePixie4]

I have a wonderful hen names Stormy. She's a beautiful, sweet girl that we brought inside to hopefully begin the treatment of her sour crop. Upon a more thorough exam, we found her crop was hanging low, a sure sign of the pendulous crop. She still wanted to eat and drink, but following the advice I found on here, I withheld food. Her crop didn't go down much at all. She continued to drink the water with ACV. The next day, I tried to give her some yogurt, which she tried once then proceeded to wipe her little beak on my arm and turned up her nose at it. After the 24 hour mark, I was worried about her not getting nutrition, so I chopped up eggs really fine and mixed some baby prunes to help her pass whatever was blocking her, which she gobbled up. Still drinking. Still pooping. But this time some hay was in it...yay! Now on to the questions. After limiting her food intake for a couple days, since her crop was still hanging low, I stuck with the eggs, and soaked layer mash. She only wants to eat solids for some reason.We were able to clear her crop by over half, but only with regurgitation. I've read that I can give her Pedialyte to help with replacing some of the nutrients she's missed the last few days. Do I replace her water with it? Also, there's still some undigested layer in the pendulous part. Do I need to keep helping her regurgitate until the crop is empty? I'm new to chickens and am naturally freaking out, as I'm worried about giving her too much solid food. I don't want to take her back out to the coop until we get the craw down enough that the food she eats can in her gizzard. (They have free feed). I also plan to make a crop bra for her to help her as much as possible. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I love this girl more than a person should love a chicken. :-(

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have any photos of her standing so we can see her pendulous crop?

A crop bra, either purchased or homemade will be helpful for her pendulous crop - she may have to wear it all her life if the crop is permanently stretched. The goal is to get the crop "up" so the contents empty. If you feel that she still has some hay/harder to digest matter in her, you can try a stool softener like Dulcolax and massage the crop several times a day to see if you can get that broken up. Water, plenty of water. Pedialyte can be used in small amounts - if you wish, but it won't kill her to not eat for 24hours. Wet Food, her normal feed dry, baby food or chopped egg are all fine.

Here's a very good detailed article about crop issues and treatment options - the Dulcolax treatment is there too http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

I hope she gets better.

 

[song of joy]

Sour crop is an issue, but pendulous crop alone doesn't always need to be treated if the hen is functioning normally (eating, drinking, being active, etc.). I have a 4-year old australorp that has had pendulous crop for at least 3 years and she does fine . . . even with what she eats while free-ranging. For the main diet, I would think that commercial chicken feed would be easier to digest though, than some of the coarser grains that are on the market. Mashed eggs are a very good supplement as well, due to their high protein and vitamin content.