possibly Sour Crop

Grindlefamily

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3 year old buff orpington

feather were ruffled, lethargic - runny poo, seems to have a squishy crop - found her this way this morning, sitting under the heat lamp in the coop - right next to the water

Rest of flock seems normal - so I brought her inside

Giving her water with acv in it, I've rubbed her crop, tipped her up and liquid came out (felt bad doing so) - not sure if that helped or not
sad.png


What else can I do???

She's one of our two original hens.

How often should I rub her crop? I've rubbed it in a downward motion.

I've read all I could find on here and on the web - I guess I'm looking for either ideas, suggestions or reassurance I'm doing the right thing.

thanks!
 
It sounds like your hen could have sour crop. There are two keys...does the crop empty overnight and is she pooping? You said her poop is runny so at least her crop is not totally blocked and preventing any food through. Here are some suggestions that have worked for my hen that had sour crop. Remember that each bird is different and I haven't seen your hen to know what her crop is like, etc., so you'll have to be the judge of what to do.


If possible, isolate her so that you can monitor her food and her poop. I'm going to try to find a thread and post the link to it where there is information that may help you. If you pick your bird up and she feels like she has lost weight, you will need to do some immediate care for her.

Yes, you need to get this bird to vomit. But, a more helpful way, I think, is to flush the crop. By using a feeding tube and syringe without a needle, inject warm water into the crop. Depending on how full the crop is now, you could inject 60cc+ of warm water. With the water in there, massage the crop to help loosen what is causing it to be blocked and then hold the bird upside down, making certain that her head is always down. If she lifts her head, liquid can pool in her mouth and she may aspirate it into her lungs which could possibly kill her. There is an opening to the lungs in the mouth toward the back of and under the tongue. Flush her a couple of times and try to get as much of the junk out as possible. I held my bird over the toilet so I could see what was coming out. That will help you to know what's causing the problem and you can keep her away from that stuff after she recovers as it may cause the same problem again.

Do not keep feeding the bird anything other than soft food. The food isn't going through so it is only making the problem worse. If she is pooping some, that's a good thing but she needs soft food. I used diluted baby food through the syringe. If she'll eat it herself, it doesn't have to be so dilute. Someone who is studying to be a vet cautioned that using baby food with garlic or onion powder is not good for birds long term as it causes hemolytic anemia. I doubt that you will be using baby food long term but keep that in mind.

I'll paste a couple of links for you. One is pictures of poop so that you can compare your hen's poop to the pictures and get some info about where she is. Another is a first aid site where (if you scroll down) you can see a crop tube set up and instructions. I will also look for a link to a thread here for more info. Keep us posted. We hope you can save your hen.

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

http://www.broodyhen.co.uk/ket/fowlnotfoul/1staid.htm

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=442100


Keep us posted and feel free to ask any questions that come to mind.
 
I have a hen that got sour crop. After some advice I squirted a small amount of olive oil down her throat and then held her so she was pointing down to the ground by tipping her forward while massaging her crop down towards her mouth. I then raised her back up to normal holding position and then repeated the action a couple of times. This was all to get her to vomit and she did...some times more than others but usually not a lot. This almost immediately made he better. She did get sour crop again over the next couple of days but I just repeated the action and made her vomit and now she is all better??? The competing really did make her feel better almost immediately.

I had my fav. hen die last year (my first time with sour crop) from sour crop or possibly whatever was causing the sour crop. I even took her to the vet and they flushed her out and she was on antibiotics for a while after that but she never really got better and eventually died...but this girl I have now is fully recovered??? Just from doing the above....

Good luck....
 

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