madfisch
Hatching
I came back from a 4 day trip and a hen who seemed perfectly fine (literally even checked her crop before I left, which wasn't easy since she was very energetic and hard to catch) had developed sour crop. My brother and I were even commenting how her butt was the most perfect, clean and pristine of the whole flock. I don't know how she got sick, since she felt and seemed normal before I left, but there was definitely food in there from before I left (we saw it dump out) so who knows. Since I had been treating another hen for vent gleet in the weeks prior, I luckily had nystatin and acidified copper sulfate on hand already. My mom and brother noticed the sour crop on Sunday and got her to take a couple doses of nystatin, but I’ve seen some debate about whether that actually tackles the yeast in the crop (even though most vets allegedly prescribe it as the standard treatment). We started her on the copper sulfate solution first thing on monday and I even saw her take a few sips of it when I put it in there, but that was all she drank that day (to my knowledge) and since then it has been more of a challenge to get her to drink it. People online seem to have great success with this solution (allegedly even in severe cases) so I was really hopeful that this would not be fatal especially given the timeline.
I had 2 hens pass away of sour crop over 2 years ago (not at the same time) because we just didn't have the proper medicine, so I am familiar with what it's like when things are not going well, and how to safely drain them as a last resort. We did some draining at the beginning and end of the day on monday, and a little bit in the morning on tuesday, but since then we haven't seen anything exit the crop by mouth. She has not been refilling with the liquid (like not to the point of being big and full like my other birds were when they had sour crop), and she has had a full range of movement without any issues draining spontaneously. I am massaging it frequently to try and move some of the solids that I can feel rattling in there (probably melon seeds and scratch grains based on the feeling) and when we can’t see that she’s been drinking on her own, we have given her the medicated water via syringe (just putting a dropper to her beak and letting her sip it on her own to avoid the risk of aspiration) to keep it in her system and to keep her hydrated and alive through the heat but she has enough energy to make this difficult. Her behaviour was the worst on monday, she has definitely perked up a bit even though she is still lethargic, and we have gotten her to eat small amounts of wet pellets and rice on tuesday and wednesday night to keep her going.
Her vent also has a dark circle around it and feels very dry. I’m not sure if this is just from the harsh poops or if this is a symptom of some other underlying condition that may have caused the sour crop as well. I saw one similar picture online, but there was no update as to what ended up happening with the hen. I am putting monistat cream and aquaphor on it to try and soothe it at the very least until I know what’s going on. It does seem to have gotten much less dry and lightened in color a bit. (see photos, sorry) I have checked her for signs of water belly, worms, and egg binding and she has seemingly none. first pic is before ointments.
When I massage the crop, it's clearly not full, and moving things around causes it to quickly fill (still not large) and get firm with a small amount of gas and I hear little gurgles and groans from inside of the crop. I gently continue rubbing and the gas releases and pressure goes down.
I’ve been hoping that the medicine fighting the yeast will start to bring back her appetite, but it’s a struggle to get her to keep taking it when she has no appetite and just enough energy to resist. I also don’t know how much she would actually need to be drinking of the solution each day to even begin to attack the yeast. People just say to give it as the sole source of water.
When I offer her food, it’s almost like she considers eating but decides not to. I can’t tell if she’s just looking for something in particular. Another hen I was just treating for vent gleet outright refused to eat anything until I put what she wanted in front of her, so I know it’s possible for them to be both sick and picky, but I am running out of ideas and foods that I can offer her. She ate small amounts of rice, water, and medicated mealworms on tuesday night and another small amount of rice and water on thursday evening.
After writing all of this, later that day (Friday) I decided we needed to do a tube feeding to keep the medicine in her system. It was not an easy decision to make because I was very scared and hated the idea of putting her through something stressful, but I’m very glad we did it. We gave her just over 10 ml of the medicated water and immediately after getting that put in her crop she was willing to eat many bites of the pellet mash that we had tried to fit in the tube (it was still too thick, so i’ll be getting some metamucil or formula for next time) and she was eating comfortably with her head down as you can see in the picture. It’s not much but it will keep her fighting. I was hoping this would be the start of an upward trend but we may have no choice but to do it again today. here she is eating after the tube feed, she seems fine putting her head down even for 10+ seconds and doesn’t come up to sip like i’ve seen my other hens with sour crop doing to keep from vomiting.
I also don’t know if there’s any information I could be gathering from the kinds of poops she is doing about whether things are getting better or not. Many of them are the standard yeasty white and yellow poops, but sometimes there are very dark sluggish blobs included and I would love to know if seeing those come out is a positive thing (like older stuff leaving the crop) or if that’s just the tiny amounts of food she’s been getting and that’s how they are processing. Photos show some of the ones with extra stuff in them. The biggest one (last pic) is what came out overnight after doing the ACS tube feed.
I have dedicated my every free moment this past month to the health of my chickens and I am really at a loss for what to do next and how to know when this will be over. Any suggestions regarding other foods or methods of medicating her, or what could be the cause of the darkness on her vent would be hugely appreciated. At the end of the day her overall comfort and peace is my main goal, and I don’t want to keep bothering her and stressing her out if there is some other reason she won’t get through this, but I also want to be aggressive and fight it if it’s possible, so finding that balance has been hard.
TLDR; trying to treat a chicken with sour crop using acidified copper sulfate solution, but getting her to take it has been hard. her crop isn’t bulbous or overflowing, but she still won’t eat or drink normally. just tube fed some of the solution last night and I’m hoping she will improve, but she also has a dark circle around her vent so i don’t know if that means something.
If anyone has guidance on how to tell if the treatments are helping or if I need to change something I’m doing, please don’t hesitate to share.
I also have a few other posts with some other questions that have come up throughout this entire month long process so if you are familiar with gleet, sour crop, or coop maintenance, any and all suggestions are hugely appreciated.
I had 2 hens pass away of sour crop over 2 years ago (not at the same time) because we just didn't have the proper medicine, so I am familiar with what it's like when things are not going well, and how to safely drain them as a last resort. We did some draining at the beginning and end of the day on monday, and a little bit in the morning on tuesday, but since then we haven't seen anything exit the crop by mouth. She has not been refilling with the liquid (like not to the point of being big and full like my other birds were when they had sour crop), and she has had a full range of movement without any issues draining spontaneously. I am massaging it frequently to try and move some of the solids that I can feel rattling in there (probably melon seeds and scratch grains based on the feeling) and when we can’t see that she’s been drinking on her own, we have given her the medicated water via syringe (just putting a dropper to her beak and letting her sip it on her own to avoid the risk of aspiration) to keep it in her system and to keep her hydrated and alive through the heat but she has enough energy to make this difficult. Her behaviour was the worst on monday, she has definitely perked up a bit even though she is still lethargic, and we have gotten her to eat small amounts of wet pellets and rice on tuesday and wednesday night to keep her going.
Her vent also has a dark circle around it and feels very dry. I’m not sure if this is just from the harsh poops or if this is a symptom of some other underlying condition that may have caused the sour crop as well. I saw one similar picture online, but there was no update as to what ended up happening with the hen. I am putting monistat cream and aquaphor on it to try and soothe it at the very least until I know what’s going on. It does seem to have gotten much less dry and lightened in color a bit. (see photos, sorry) I have checked her for signs of water belly, worms, and egg binding and she has seemingly none. first pic is before ointments.
When I massage the crop, it's clearly not full, and moving things around causes it to quickly fill (still not large) and get firm with a small amount of gas and I hear little gurgles and groans from inside of the crop. I gently continue rubbing and the gas releases and pressure goes down.
I’ve been hoping that the medicine fighting the yeast will start to bring back her appetite, but it’s a struggle to get her to keep taking it when she has no appetite and just enough energy to resist. I also don’t know how much she would actually need to be drinking of the solution each day to even begin to attack the yeast. People just say to give it as the sole source of water.
When I offer her food, it’s almost like she considers eating but decides not to. I can’t tell if she’s just looking for something in particular. Another hen I was just treating for vent gleet outright refused to eat anything until I put what she wanted in front of her, so I know it’s possible for them to be both sick and picky, but I am running out of ideas and foods that I can offer her. She ate small amounts of rice, water, and medicated mealworms on tuesday night and another small amount of rice and water on thursday evening.
After writing all of this, later that day (Friday) I decided we needed to do a tube feeding to keep the medicine in her system. It was not an easy decision to make because I was very scared and hated the idea of putting her through something stressful, but I’m very glad we did it. We gave her just over 10 ml of the medicated water and immediately after getting that put in her crop she was willing to eat many bites of the pellet mash that we had tried to fit in the tube (it was still too thick, so i’ll be getting some metamucil or formula for next time) and she was eating comfortably with her head down as you can see in the picture. It’s not much but it will keep her fighting. I was hoping this would be the start of an upward trend but we may have no choice but to do it again today. here she is eating after the tube feed, she seems fine putting her head down even for 10+ seconds and doesn’t come up to sip like i’ve seen my other hens with sour crop doing to keep from vomiting.
I also don’t know if there’s any information I could be gathering from the kinds of poops she is doing about whether things are getting better or not. Many of them are the standard yeasty white and yellow poops, but sometimes there are very dark sluggish blobs included and I would love to know if seeing those come out is a positive thing (like older stuff leaving the crop) or if that’s just the tiny amounts of food she’s been getting and that’s how they are processing. Photos show some of the ones with extra stuff in them. The biggest one (last pic) is what came out overnight after doing the ACS tube feed.
I have dedicated my every free moment this past month to the health of my chickens and I am really at a loss for what to do next and how to know when this will be over. Any suggestions regarding other foods or methods of medicating her, or what could be the cause of the darkness on her vent would be hugely appreciated. At the end of the day her overall comfort and peace is my main goal, and I don’t want to keep bothering her and stressing her out if there is some other reason she won’t get through this, but I also want to be aggressive and fight it if it’s possible, so finding that balance has been hard.
TLDR; trying to treat a chicken with sour crop using acidified copper sulfate solution, but getting her to take it has been hard. her crop isn’t bulbous or overflowing, but she still won’t eat or drink normally. just tube fed some of the solution last night and I’m hoping she will improve, but she also has a dark circle around her vent so i don’t know if that means something.
If anyone has guidance on how to tell if the treatments are helping or if I need to change something I’m doing, please don’t hesitate to share.
I also have a few other posts with some other questions that have come up throughout this entire month long process so if you are familiar with gleet, sour crop, or coop maintenance, any and all suggestions are hugely appreciated.
