Sour crop and treatment?

[KranK]

One of my old hens probably got sour crop - the crop feels like a baloon, not much food in it and a lot of "water". It's not probably emptying since yesterday. It smells "sour" from her beak. Her crop has been massaged a day before yesterday and she has "vomited", but only vomiting didn't help . I've read that i should withold water for 12 hours and food for 24 hour, and then feed her with hard boiled yolk, with a tablespoon of applesauce and give her water with probiotics. I don't have chicken probiotics, i've got probiotics for humans i guess (could i give it to her in water?). Could i just add a teaspoon of plain yoghurt to the yolk-mix? And could i take the night as 12 hours without water and then in the morning give her water? (Btw i'd like to mark her with a not-tight cable tie/zipper on leg. Is it safe? I go to school and grandpa wouldn't know which chicken to isolate)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would always make water available for her during waking hours.
You can give her yogurt for probiotics, that's fine - about 1 tablespoon a day.
Withholding food for a day may help during treatment.

Can you get an over the counter vaginal yeast or anti-fungal cream that contains Miconazole or Clortrimazole? That is what I would use to treat the sour crop. Instructions are in the link below but I just draw up the correct amount of cream and direct dose the hen twice a day.
Don't massage the crop if it's sour.

With her being an older hen the crop issue may be due to a reproductive disorder or other underlying condition, but hopefully you can get it cleared up to make her more comfortable.

Offering her a little wet mushy feed or bits of soft cooked egg is fine if she's willing to eat.

I recommend that you read the whole article, it has some good information. Get back with us on how she's doing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Aapomp831]

Definitely no food for 24 hours, and no water for 12. You should separate her so she can’t have access to food - chickens instinctually want to fill their crops. If you smell something sour, then it has moved beyond an impacted crop and is now sour crop which means the food sat in the crop long enough to ferment. DO NOT try and vomit her at this time as you could possibly cause her to aspirate and die.
After 12 hours with no water (chickens don’t drink overnight, they are blind in the dark), give her some water with crushed garlic in it. After 24 hours, offer some plain Greek yogurt. I’m going to attach a video that I reference and successfully treated a sour crop chicken using her steps.
Good luck to you!

 

[Aapomp831]

 

[KranK]

I'll mark her with a loose zip-tie, so after a night without water grandpa will isolate her and give her water. Could i give her some yoghurt with cooked yolk in the evening so she woudln't be hungry at night or in the morning?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'll mark her with a loose zip-tie, so after a night without water grandpa will isolate her and give her water. Could i give her some yoghurt with cooked yolk in the evening so she woudln't be hungry at night or in the morning?

Has she been eating anything at all?
If you can get some photos of her poop too when you can that would be good.

I think it would be o.k. to give her a little yogurt and cooked yolk before she goes to roost. Just make sure she's got water during the day.

Are you able to get those OTC cream? I have found they work well to help clear up sour crop but like I mentioned often there is something else going on.
If you aren't able to get the cream, then can try the recipe for Doughy Crop in this article, but preferably you can get the antifungal/yeast cream.

Read both articles - I know it's a lot, but it's important that you understand what's going on and how the crop functions.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Aapomp831]

If her crop is impacted to the point it has gone sour, giving it any food at all will just add to the fermented yeast infection that is sour crop. The food will not make it down the the stomach anyway, so I wouldn’t feed her anything for 24 hours at least. The crop needs a chance to try and empty, and adding more food on top of what’s already not going down is pointless and adding to the problem.

 

[KranK]

Has she been eating anything at all?
If you can get some photos of her poop too when you can that would be good.

I think it would be o.k. to give her a little yogurt and cooked yolk before she goes to roost. Just make sure she's got water during the day.

Are you able to get those OTC cream? I have found they work well to help clear up sour crop but like I mentioned often there is something else going on.
If you aren't able to get the cream, then can try the recipe for Doughy Crop in this article, but preferably you can get the antifungal/yeast cream.

Read both articles - I know it's a lot, but it's important that you understand what's going on and how the crop functions.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

I don't know if she's eating, she was sitting on the roost since morning today i think but i've put her on the ground so she could walk. Its rainy and wet today so even if she'd poo, i probably wouldn't find it. There are cremes with miconazole in Poland. I'll read about it and maybe buy one. Won't the zip-tie hurt her leg? It's important to mark her so grandpa will know which one to isolate.

 

[KranK]

If her crop is impacted to the point it has gone sour, giving it any food at all will just add to the fermented yeast infection that is sour crop. The food will not make it down the the stomach anyway, so I wouldn’t feed her anything for 24 hours at least. The crop needs a chance to try and empty, and adding more food on top of what’s already not going down is pointless and adding to the problem.

But after 24h without food(maybe even 22-23) it wouldn't hurt her to give her a bit of yolk with yoghurt, jut like wyorp rock has said.

 

[KranK]

One of the articles says that the first thing i should do is make her vomit. Should i do it before night?

"First thing you need to do is get this gunk out of her crop. This stuff is going to become toxic very quick like and since chickens can't vomit, you will need to do it for them. If left untreated, this gunk can poison her. So take her outside for this next procedure. Hold her like a football in one arm, beak facing out. With your other hand support her at the Crop. Stand yourself with feet apart and lean yourself and the bird forward. You are going to want to lean her far down, beak facing the ground, tail up. Gently squeeze and massage the Crop. The MOMENT the fluid starts to come up out and out of the beak, hold her for no more than 2 seconds in this position and then stand her and yourself back up. Any longer and you can aspirate her. Give her a few moments to catch her breath and do it again. REMEMBER....stick to 2 seconds only in this downward position. Do this until you can't get anymore out. You will never get it all out of the Crop, but do your best so she can heal faster and feel better as well."