My Hen has Sour Crop!

Jul 13, 2018
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Southern California
Hi guys. My only egg laying hen has a really big crop. We are 99% sure that it’s sour crop. Do you have any tips to get rid of it. Here’s a picture it might be kind of blurry but you can see her really big crop.
upload_2018-10-17_20-26-57.jpeg
Thanks in advance!
 
I treat with probiotics and prevent with a tablespoon of ACV in a gallon of water once a month. If you are sure, you can try to massage to maybe loosen it up. A vet can prescribed Nystatin for thrush which is basically what sour crop is. But the little packet of probiotics you get for chicks is a good start.

How long has she been like this?
Does the crop empty at night?
Getting grit, rock or sand?
 
Its been like that for about 2 days and I give them oyster shell grit every morning and her crop is the size of a baseball and when I checked it tonight it was mostly empty. Thanks for replying at this time.
 
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Hi guys. My only egg laying hen has a really big crop. We are 99% sure that it’s sour crop. Do you have any tips to get rid of it. Here’s a picture it might be kind of blurry but you can see her really big crop.
View attachment 1563717Thanks in advance!
Its been like that for about 2 days and I give them oyster shell grit every morning and her crop is the size of a baseball and when I checked it tonight it was mostly empty.
Checking a crop during the day is not a good way to guage crop function since chickens eat/drinking all day and the crop can be at various stages of fullness.
Re-check her first thing in the morning before she eats or drinks. It should be empty of flat.

Chickens will fill their crop before they go to roost. Some do look like they have a baseball or melon in their chest, they are good eaters, in some breeds it seems to be more noticeable than in others as well. As long as the crop is empty in the morning, then I would not worry.

FYI Oyster shell is a soluble form of calcium and is not hard enough to be used as grit in the gizzard. While some people do have adequate small rocks/stones found naturally in their soil, imho, it is best to just supply poultry grit (crushed granite) so there's no guessing. A bag of grit will last a long time if kept dry. I just keep it in a feed bucket with a tight fitting lid - I throw some to the chickens occasionally and put some in a cup attached to a post in the run.
Oyster shell should also be given free choice, just place some in a small cup in the coop or run and they will take what they need.
 
thanks So much this is reassuring I was looking on YouTube and looks like Blue Andolusions are prone to get sour crop there’s a blue andulsion on almost every picture of a video about sour crops. thing is I really don’t see her eat much ( but I’m out of the house for half of the day) but I’m sure her crop would be empty because it’s empty right now she just started laying a week ago could that be a reason it’s so big? Thanks for answering at this time! I’ll make sure to go to the store to buy some better grit for them over the weekend.
 
I want to get something straight when chickens have an sour crop is their crop always hard filled with food with no chance of the food being digested or is the crop soft and squishy most of the time?
 
thanks So much this is reassuring I was looking on YouTube and looks like Blue Andolusions are prone to get sour crop there’s a blue andulsion on almost every picture of a video about sour crops. thing is I really don’t see her eat much ( but I’m out of the house for half of the day) but I’m sure her crop would be empty because it’s empty right now tyshe just started laying a week ago could that be a reason it’s so big? Thanks for answering at this time! I’ll make sure to go to the store to buy some better grit for them over the weekend.
I would check it first thing before she eats/drinks, you may be surprised to find it empty. I have a few that are very good layers and they go to roost each night with very full crops only to find them empty by morning.
 
I want to get something straight when chickens have an sour crop is their crop always hard filled with food with no chance of the food being digested or is the crop soft and squishy most of the time?
You would still want to check to see if it's empty in the mornings. Sour crop would make the breath smell sour - basically it's a crop that has "fermented" or become yeasty due to the food not moving on out. An impacted crop which is hard, can become sour, just like a soft and doughy one can.
 
That’s great but It might be a bit full though because I realized I left their food in the coop but they don’t really like to eat that they usually just wait for me to open their coop in the morning so they can forage
 
I’m going to try to wake up earlier to check her crop before the sun comes up because when it dose i’m Sure she will go and eat the later feed in their thank you so much for answering this late I’m just so worried for her she just started laying and she has been laying for 4 days straight it would be horrible if anything happened to her
 

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