Sour crop and gurgles.

[Chickpotle]

In the last year 4 of my birds have experienced what appeared to be sour crop and all died months apart. All of them were different breeds, three years old, and had the opportunity to “free range” in a tractor during the day.

I keep the grass down and try to pay attention to what surrounds them, but nothing pops as a culprit. This latest had my poor bird gurgling for air and coughing. She’s still with me, but may not make it through the night.

Any ideas on what could cause this? Is there another disease or issue that manifests itself similarly to sour crop but should be treated differently? I don’t know how to protect the rest of my girls. All 4 others have passed even when treated with monistat etc per other recommendations in the group. I have no chicken vets near me and four 16 week old newer gals remaining.

Please help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Do you have granite poultry grit available to the chickens? What feeds are they eating besides grasses, bugs, etc. Have they continued to lay eggs? Do you worm your chickens and with what wormer? Sometimes chickens will have crop problems due to another problem happening, such as reproductive disorders or worms. Those may slow digestion and cause the crop to slow down. If you lose this latest hen, contact your state vet lab early, and take her body in for a necropsy. That is the best way to know what was wrong. What state are you in? Here is a list of all state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[Chickpotle]

Sorry for your loss. Do you have granite poultry grit available to the chickens? What feeds are they eating besides grasses, bugs, etc. Have they continued to lay eggs? Do you worm your chickens and with what wormer? Sometimes chickens will have crop problems due to another problem happening, such as reproductive disorders or worms. Those may slow digestion and cause the crop to slow down. If you lose this latest hen, contact your state vet lab early, and take her body in for a necropsy. That is the best way to know what was wrong. What state are you in? Here is a list of all state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Thanks for the response.

The girls have grit available, but I can do better about making sure it’s more available. All the girls actually stopped laying a few months back and never picked it back up when the summer came. My lawn is generally comprised of more weeds than grass and I couldn’t even begin to identify them. The foliage hasn’t changed though since we got them 3 years ago.

I have never dewormed them, but do have Poultry Dewormer 5x capsules on hand. I’ve only ever treated them for coccid with corrid in the past.

I did a masters float fecal test on the girls the last time one was ill and it came back negative. Should I still treat everyone for worms?

This morning her crop doesn’t have the coin sized liquid pouch any longer, but she’s still gurgling (and it worsens when I catch her), coughing, and turning blue. She will rebound for a bit when left to herself, but still puffs up.

I should mention her poops are non-existent mini piles of white/clear foam. She’s still eating and drinking.