Ooh I think this is sour crop!

[PluckyJen]

Morning all. My hen Harriet is almost 5 now. She has had a bout about 3 months ago of lethargic and head shaking. I was told by vet store that it's worms. Treated her and she was back up in no time.
Now the last week she has been off again.
Comb is dark on ends, lethargic, not bothered with food unless it's a treat. Still drinking water. Poops are green and white and watery. I noticed water or fluid coming out her beak yesterday. This morning her crop is squishy and I can feel some left over food in it. I can feel her breastbone now too which means she is losing weight quick.
So my question is, how do I treat my baby and get her well again? Never had this before. Thank you in advance. You are all amazing sources of information and help.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I have a hen with crop issues that seems to develop sour crop every year and I have to go through this with her. If you see fluid coming out of your hen's mouth you really need to proceed with caution though as they can aspirate easily.
Did they give her antibiotics as the treatment you mentioned? Sour crop can be from a yeast infection possibly brought on by the antibiotics or it could be from a crop impaction causing food to sit in the crop and later causing the yeast infection. There are other possible causes but I think one of these would be most likely.

 

[PluckyJen]

I have a hen with crop issues that seems to develop sour crop every year and I have to go through this with her. If you see fluid coming out of your hen's mouth you really need to proceed with caution though as they can aspirate easily.
Did they give her antibiotics as the treatment you mentioned? Sour crop can be from a yeast infection possibly brought on by the antibiotics or it could be from a crop impaction causing food to sit in the crop and later causing the yeast infection. There are other possible causes but I think one of these would be most likely.

Hi there. Thanks for your reply.
I was given doxycycline antibiotic and piperazine adipate as the dewormer. 7 days on both together.
I'm thinking it might be food sitting in the crop too long and not properly digesting that might have caused this. She had some bread recently and I wonder if that didn't encourage this problem. Can kick myself now for letting her eat it. Was trying to encourage some friendship with her and the two pullets I just got as company for her. Let them eat next to eachother through their cage.Today there isn't any fluid coming from her mouth. It was just wet around her mouth and face yesterday that I noticed.
Now some say to treat with probiotics and apple cider vinegar. Others say to induce vomiting and give soft wet food only. Oh and others say an espom salts flush. Last two sounding so hectic I'm frightened at the thought of doing either or.
What is your route you take?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hi there. Thanks for your reply.
I was given doxycycline antibiotic and piperazine adipate as the dewormer. 7 days on both together.
I'm thinking it might be food sitting in the crop too long and not properly digesting that might have caused this. She had some bread recently and I wonder if that didn't encourage this problem. Can kick myself now for letting her eat it. Was trying to encourage some friendship with her and the two pullets I just got as company for her. Let them eat next to eachother through their cage.Today there isn't any fluid coming from her mouth. It was just wet around her mouth and face yesterday that I noticed.
Now some say to treat with probiotics and apple cider vinegar. Others say to induce vomiting and give soft wet food only. Oh and others say an espom salts flush. Last two sounding so hectic I'm frightened at the thought of doing either or.
What is your route you take?

In an emergency situation you can induce vomiting to save a life in some cases but it would be a last ditch effort for me if you can avoid it. In my personal opinion, it's just so easy for them to accidentally inhale it.
Does the crop feel like a balloon and did you notice a sour or fermented smell coming from her mouth?

What I have done multiple times for impactions and it always seems to work for my hen. I will scramble an egg and mix in lots of grit into the egg (preferably grit with probiotics if you have that available), once or twice a day I feed the grit eggs to my hen and gently massage the crop after she eats it. This helps to break up whatever got lodged in there. I also use a product called RopaPoultry in her water it has oregano, some vitamins, and probiotics in it.
If your hen is drooling I would hesitate to give her more food just yet and I would focus on trying to gently massage the crop without doing the above first. While doing this you can feel around for any lumps too. If the crop is so full that this presses fluid out of her mouth I would stop immediately.

 

[PluckyJen]

In an emergency situation you can induce vomiting to save a life in some cases but it would be a last ditch effort for me if you can avoid it. In my personal opinion, it's just so easy for them to accidentally inhale it.
Does the crop feel like a balloon and did you notice a sour or fermented smell coming from her mouth?

What I have done multiple times for impactions and it always seems to work for my hen. I will scramble an egg and mix in lots of grit into the egg (preferably grit with probiotics if you have that available), once or twice a day I feed the grit eggs to my hen and gently massage the crop after she eats it. This helps to break up whatever got lodged in there. I also use a product called RopaPoultry in her water it has oregano, some vitamins, and probiotics in it.
If your hen is drooling I would hesitate to give her more food just yet and I would focus on trying to gently massage the crop without doing the above first. While doing this you can feel around for any lumps too. If the crop is so full that this presses fluid out of her mouth I would stop immediately.

Crop feels squishy with some bits of food in it. I will go get some grit this afternoon and mix in probiotics too. I could probably sprinkle some dried oregano over it too. Aww she does love a scrambled egg for sure. Im going to massage crop too. There isn't any sour or odd smell coming from her beak.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Crop feels squishy with some bits of food in it. I will go get some grit this afternoon and mix in probiotics too. I could probably sprinkle some dried oregano over it too. Aww she does love a scrambled egg for sure. Im going to massage crop too. There isn't any sour or odd smell coming from her beak.

Hmm, without the sour smell it may or may not be sour crop. Since she's been experiencing other issues fairly recently I wonder if it could be something else underlying. Either way, the gentle methods I mentioned won't hurt. Someone else may chime in to help you figure out if it's something other than sour crop. I hope she starts to feel better soon!

 

[Hannah G]

Morning all. My hen Harriet is almost 5 now. She has had a bout about 3 months ago of lethargic and head shaking. I was told by vet store that it's worms. Treated her and she was back up in no time.
Now the last week she has been off again.
Comb is dark on ends, lethargic, not bothered with food unless it's a treat. Still drinking water. Poops are green and white and watery. I noticed water or fluid coming out her beak yesterday. This morning her crop is squishy and I can feel some left over food in it. I can feel her breastbone now too which means she is losing weight quick.
So my question is, how do I treat my baby and get her well again? Never had this before. Thank you in advance. You are all amazing sources of information and help.

Many of the symptoms sound like my chicken atm including -comb dark on ends, lethargic, not bothered with food unless it's a treat, drinking water. My chickens poops are green and YELLOW though, not white, and solid not watery. I also saw fluid coming out her beak a couple of days ago but only once and I've been watching her very closely all week. My girls breastbone is very prominent as she has been sick for at least 6 weeks (I took her to the vet at that point and he suggested I treat her for mites and worm her only)..
I have just found a small rubbery 'lash egg' which are apparently pus balls indicative of inflammed oviduct (salpinitis) and has a very poor prognosis at this late stage. Can try to treat with anitbiotics though if caught early. I'm no expert and maybe all those symptoms are just from poor health but is something else to consider. Hope she gets better!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@PluckyJen I know you said her breastbone seemed prominent but does her abdomen feel squishy to you at all?

 

[theoldchick]

https://the-chicken-chick.com/chicken-anatomy-crop-impacted-crop-sour/

 

[PluckyJen]

Many of the symptoms sound like my chicken atm including -comb dark on ends, lethargic, not bothered with food unless it's a treat, drinking water. My chickens poops are green and YELLOW though, not white, and solid not watery. I also saw fluid coming out her beak a couple of days ago but only once and I've been watching her very closely all week. My girls breastbone is very prominent as she has been sick for at least 6 weeks (I took her to the vet at that point and he suggested I treat her for mites and worm her only)..
I have just found a small rubbery 'lash egg' which are apparently pus balls indicative of inflammed oviduct (salpinitis) and has a very poor prognosis at this late stage. Can try to treat with anitbiotics though if caught early. I'm no expert and maybe all those symptoms are just from poor health but is something else to consider. Hope she gets better!

Oh goodness. I'm so sorry your baby isn't well too. Mine hasn't laid any eggs in about 6 months maybe more. Since her mate passed away. I have gotten her two pullets recently or shall I say FINALLY. It's a nightmare here to get just one or two hens as chickens are predominantly bred and fed to land up feeding the masses of people in this country. Very sad.
Anyway, I'm going to try what I can at this stage and really pray she comes right. I hope your chicken does too! Thanks for the info. Going to consider everything at this stage. It's like one thing but not another.. Things don't add up. But I'll keep going.