Rooster with sour crop died, did I do something wrong?

brewmiss96

In the Brooder
11 Years
Apr 3, 2008
85
0
39
Redmond, OR
Big Red died in my arms as he was vomiting up his crop contents. For a couple days he was listless, just sitting on the ground or not roosting and his crop was doughy and he burped a couple times, really yeasty smell. When I was checking out his feet he vomited on my leg. So I isolated him in a big box in the house and gave him AVC water to drink and yogurt with mineral oil to eat. He ate and drank a little, but there was no change in his crop. His keel was pretty sparse. So yesterday I started putting AVC down his throat, tilted his head back to make sure he wouldn't breathe it in, gave him 12cc yesterday morning, no change in the afternoon. Last night I gave 12cc again and hung him upside down over a bowl and massaged his crop and stuff started to dribble out. I could feel grains in the crop while I massaged, but nothing else of substance. I was encouraged, so I let him rest a little and then did it again. This time all sorts of stuff started coming out, leaves and bigger chunks of grains. He started to shake his head like he did before when the stuff was coming out, and all of a sudden he went limp and died. Did I suffocate him? I haven't done the autopsy yet. Maybe he was too far gone at that point? He seemed alert and interested in stuff, just didn't like walking around.
 
I'm guessing he aspirated the fluids. Hopefully you will never have a case of sour crop again, check your coop for causes.
Did you give the ACV full-strength? It may have reacted chemically with the contents of his stomach.
Avoid yogurt and kefir in cases of sour crop, they are fermented products and may make the situation worse.
There is a sharp learning curve with chickens, as nnbreeder often reminds us, and I'm very sorry about your loss and hope that some experience has come from it...
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Note- in the UK, maggots are often offered for sour crop. These can be obtained from a fishing bait shop.
 
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