Sour crop chicken will not eat soft food.

[Tigertrea]

One of my 4mo old RIRs. She seems to be doing OK. I flushed and vomited her, withholding food for about 36 hours. her crop is still a bit large but, is not filling anymore. I had to take news paper out of her seclusion pen (dog crate) because she kept eating it. I gave her plain yogurt and she ignored it so I force fed it to her. Later I offered yogurt mixed with apple sauce and she ignored it. I gave her juice of fresh tomatoes and she drank some of it, not much, before spilling it all over. This morning I gave her a small dish of apple sauce and a small dish of yogurt with hone added. She took about 4 nibbles of the apple sauce but is ignoring the rest. (other than standing it it that is)

I'm not sure what to do now. Should I just give her something that needs more digestions like pureed corn? Very finely chopped greens? Soaked crumbles? Should I just force feed her yogurt for a few days. Should I just continue with soft foods and let her decide she is hungry enough to eat what I give her. I don't want to give her anything that will tax her digestive system at this point. I don't want to buy baby food, I'd rather process up something myself (didn't even feed my kids pre-made baby food LOL) Is there something I can make that may be more interesting to her?

She is still pooping. Not so nice (eww) since I can't put anything in her crate to absorb it or she will eat whatever I put in.

I know she is bored and hungry I just don't know what I can do at this point. My DH feels we should just cull her but, I want to give it a bit before I make that decision.

 

[Tigertrea]

Since I got no advice I decided to go with my gut. I figured 2.5 days with her eating nothing except the little yogurt I force fed her was enough. I decided to soak some of her crumbles. She ate about 2 tbls full very quickly. I still can't put paper in with her because she eats it (bored?) but, she is a bit happier I think. I am happy she is still pooping even after some more solid food!

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

I had a chicken with impacted/ sour crop. I brought her to the vet, who gave me a powder bird food (normally used for young exotic birds) that I could mix with water. My chicken loved it and seemed to be able to digest it well.
Unfortunately, in my case, as it was an impacted crop as well, the illness got the best of her (since I was unwilling to put $500 toward her operation) and she passed away. But if this is simply a sour crop, it should do the trick- and you could probably sneak some kind of med (natural or otherwise) into it to get her to eat something to cure the sour crop.
I also gave my bird bananas, yogurt, and applesauce (and ACV in her water). Strange that your bird wasn't interested. Have you checked the crop to see if you can feel a lump in her crop. If it's an impacted crop, I think the only solution is cull, as there is little you can do short of operating yourself, which is pretty risky business and very time consuming to get her to recover properly.
Good Luck! I hope she recovers!

 

[Tigertrea]

I had a chicken with impacted/ sour crop. I brought her to the vet, who gave me a powder bird food (normally used for young exotic birds) that I could mix with water. My chicken loved it and seemed to be able to digest it well.
Unfortunately, in my case, as it was an impacted crop as well, the illness got the best of her (since I was unwilling to put $500 toward her operation) and she passed away. But if this is simply a sour crop, it should do the trick- and you could probably sneak some kind of med (natural or otherwise) into it to get her to eat something to cure the sour crop.
I also gave my bird bananas, yogurt, and applesauce (and ACV in her water). Strange that your bird wasn't interested. Have you checked the crop to see if you can feel a lump in her crop. If it's an impacted crop, I think the only solution is cull, as there is little you can do short of operating yourself, which is pretty risky business and very time consuming to get her to recover properly.
Good Luck! I hope she recovers!

I did feel it after I did the flushing/vomiting yesterday and I could not feel a hard lump. There was some mushy, granular material left but, not much (maybe my imagination even). I wasn't getting anything but water our though so stopped.

I read on one thread about monistat suppositories and am considering using that if the crop doesn't seem to be getting back to normal size in a day or 2 more. I'm now feeding her small meals, a few times a day. She is attacking the soaked crumbles but, I'm really limiting how much she gets right now.

All my birds refuse to drink water with ACV. (no matter how little I put in...i tried a drop in their 1 liter water bottles and they refused to touch it! I've got me some odd chickens!). I am also going to mix yogurt into the wet crumbles too I think. See if that will help get it into her.

I have a friend who has had chickens for 25yrs and she said to "just leave her be, make sure she gets lots of water and she will do fine. So, I'm kind of going somewhere in between treating and letting her be LOL.

 

[Chicken mundoo]

Hi, I'm treating my silkie who has sour crop, in the morning before giving her food I hold her upside down and the toxic stuff inside just pours out, it is getting less and her crop is getting smaller. I give her natural plain yogurt which she doesn't really like but has a little and they recommend hard boiled egg or scrambled. She prefers the scrambled egg which I fry in a bit of olive oil as apparently a bit of oil is good. I tried to mix the egg with some yogurt which she didn't like! Also putting raw apple cider vinegar in her water! There is a dude who I got some really good advice from on this site about sour crop and that advice inspired me to join. See if you can find this info! Good luck, I'm wondering if chick feed will be ok for her as she is also bored and I want her to eat something she enjoys!

 

[missmissi]

We have a 3 y/o hen we discovered had an impacted crop 2 weeks ago. She has probably had it closer to a month or so and has become very thin, considerably emaciated. I tried holding her upside down with massage without results. I've fed her plenty of olive oil and ACV, eliminated grain, provided endless amounts of salad greens(her favorite), bananas, apples all minced finely.

Shes is a pet not just a bird who lays eggs for us so we chose to spend the $350 to have surgery with anesthesia today and I'm happy to report she is doing great. The girls in the office took turns carrying her around showing her off waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. Her mass was about the size of a golf ball and would fill my cupped hand. It was full of grass and small pebbles.

She's quite hungry but I'm doling out only small amounts of mush periodically to prevent tearing the sutures. They gave us oral pain meds and antibiotics to take home. I was thinking I'd try surgery myself after she stopped eating yesterday but I was afraid I would hurt her.

If any of you followed our journey thread earlier this year her name is Babe and she was attacked by a hawk this past January. She has neurological issues and 75% blindness from the trauma but is as sweet as ever, gets around great and even more attached to us than before.

I will start checking all of our chicks for impaction regularly in the mornings when their crop should be empty.

 

[Silly sally]

Since I got no advice I decided to go with my gut. I figured 2.5 days with her eating nothing except the little yogurt I force fed her was enough. I decided to soak some of her crumbles. She ate about 2 tbls full very quickly. I still can't put paper in with her because she eats it (bored?) but, she is a bit happier I think. I am happy she is still pooping even after some more solid food!

I don't know where your located, but I'm in Australia and I get Nilstat (Nystatin oral drops from local chemist. It's an over the counter medication no prescription required (all though if you don't know the chemist well it's best to tell them it's for a family member recommended by doctor, for candida of stomach). Anyway if the crop is not too full and caught early you won't need to make her throw up. Don't feed her any chook food (grain or pellets or corn or anything that ferments ) until she is completely better. The following foods is what my vet recommended and works, cooked pumpkin ( adds fibre to gut and aids digestion) + you can add some carrots, cauliflower, spinich, sweet potato (this can replace pumpkin if not available) and I cook until soft then mash ( you don't want any blockages), if she won't eat on her own force feed her. Plus I also give cooked egg ( or syringe egg yolk if not eating herself. Make sure you hold her beak parallel and syringe small amounts at a time and let her head go so she can swallow naturally. Another thing you can give is bread soaked in milk(i also add a tiny amount of yoghurt) i chop it up pea size first, this is also vet recommended. Plus yoghurt on own . All foods must be given small amounts (1 teaspoon) at a time when crop has gone back down feed her again. Massaging the crop helps alot to , don't stretch the crop when massaging it will cause pendulous crop. Also you should google chickens anatomy to see how the crop works . In her water the whole time she's sick i put probiotics in water , you can also use apple cider vinegar if you have no probiotics ( but this is better) when I first start treating i also add electrolytes to water, this gives them more energy and might encourage to eat. It's a lot of work and can take weeks for her to be back to normal health, but it's worth it. I hope this helps