Sour crop cured, but not fully recovered. Can you "rejuvenate" their crop?

[Tubbys Lil Farm]

I have a Jersey Giant hen who is about 14 months old that started with what we thought was an impacted crop. We noticed because her crop was large and squishy....like a water balloon. The first thing we did was feed her olive oil and massage the crop. We also gave her some yogurt. She went for a couple of weeks like that and the crop soured. We scoured BYC and found that Monistat could help her. We "puked" her (forgive the crass verbiage) and gave her the meds. We actually did 2 rounds of the meds about a week apart because it came back. Her crop will seem like it's ok one day and huge and squishy the next. We currently have her isolated and are giving her layer crumbles made into mash with some water and yogurt. She seems to like it and will eat a fair amount. If her crop gets bad, we've been puking her. Sometimes the poor little girl urps herself. She's lost some weight and we feel horrid because we don't want to be cruel but we want desperately to save her. I just don't know what else to do to help her. I keep Duramycin on hand but have never had to use it. We did mix some up tonight to give her in case it's some sort of infection. I have Wazine and could worm, but don't know that's the issue. I've also read that gape-worms could cause symptoms like these and to treat with Safeguard. I don't have any, but would be willing to try if I could confirm the worms. I don't like using meds in my flock and don't as a rule, but I feel like these are last ditch efforts to save her. Like I said, I really want to save her, but I don't want to be cruel and have her slowly starve to death or something.
Anyone have any ideas? Could her crop be damaged beyond repair? It's a muscle.....can it get stretched or torn and not work properly? Am I being too impatient? We've been doctoring her for about 6 weeks now. I'm willing to keep after it if there's hope.

Anyone?
Thanks,
MO

 

[ten chicks]

I have a Jersey Giant hen who is about 14 months old that started with what we thought was an impacted crop. We noticed because her crop was large and squishy....like a water balloon. The first thing we did was feed her olive oil and massage the crop. We also gave her some yogurt. She went for a couple of weeks like that and the crop soured. We scoured BYC and found that Monistat could help her. We "puked" her (forgive the crass verbiage) and gave her the meds. We actually did 2 rounds of the meds about a week apart because it came back. Her crop will seem like it's ok one day and huge and squishy the next. We currently have her isolated and are giving her layer crumbles made into mash with some water and yogurt. She seems to like it and will eat a fair amount. If her crop gets bad, we've been puking her. Sometimes the poor little girl urps herself. She's lost some weight and we feel horrid because we don't want to be cruel but we want desperately to save her. I just don't know what else to do to help her. I keep Duramycin on hand but have never had to use it. We did mix some up tonight to give her in case it's some sort of infection. I have Wazine and could worm, but don't know that's the issue. I've also read that gape-worms could cause symptoms like these and to treat with Safeguard. I don't have any, but would be willing to try if I could confirm the worms. I don't like using meds in my flock and don't as a rule, but I feel like these are last ditch efforts to save her. Like I said, I really want to save her, but I don't want to be cruel and have her slowly starve to death or something.
Anyone have any ideas? Could her crop be damaged beyond repair? It's a muscle.....can it get stretched or torn and not work properly? Am I being too impatient? We've been doctoring her for about 6 weeks now. I'm willing to keep after it if there's hope.

Anyone?
Thanks,
MO

Yes, the muscle can stretch.

 

[Tubbys Lil Farm]

Thank you ten chicks,

Can anyone tell me, Is there hope for recovery? We have been working very hard to try and keep her fed with water soluble foods, but she is losing so much weight I (hubby) am getting very worried that I am just starving her. As stated above we were giving her the crumbles turned into very watery mash and yogurt.

 

[ten chicks]

Thank you ten chicks,

Can anyone tell me, Is there hope for recovery? We have been working very hard to try and keep her fed with water soluble foods, but she is losing so much weight I (hubby) am getting very worried that I am just starving her. As stated above we were giving her the crumbles turned into very watery mash and yogurt.

Here is a link to answer some of your questions http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
She does have access to grit?

 

[Tubbys Lil Farm]

Just an update...I did not feel that I was making any progress with this problem and this morning her crop was larger than a softball. I made the decision to cull the hen, as the most humane thing to do. Thank you for your input and the help with this.

 

[ten chicks]

Just an update...I did not feel that I was making any progress with this problem and this morning her crop was larger than a softball. I made the decision to cull the hen, as the most humane thing to do. Thank you for your input and the help with this.

If she was not getting any better,and her quality of life was not there,then you did the best thing for her out of love and compassion. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Tubbys Lil Farm]

Thank you again, it definitely is not easy losing them, even after a short amount of time. As hard as it may be sometimes, we decided going into this adventure that we would not let any of them suffer and we would give them every chance at a long, healthy and free life. We are learning however that sometimes it is worth it to make sure that the stock that you buy come from reputable breeders and to make sure that they are practicing excellent breeding technique. This was the last of our Jersey Giants, one hen died suddenly about two weeks ago, one of the rooster had wry neck at about 5 months and had to be culled, and we gave away the other three roosters.

I again appreciate the information that you have provided and the sympathy.