THANK YOU robinwiththechickens! And others who contributed to this thread. You helped saved my pet hen's life!!!! She's the last of my chickens, given to me by a now-deceased friend; so she means a lot to me.
Two or three months ago I noticed she was not looking well and refusing to eat any treats. She'd stopped laying eggs (she's a 6-year-old old Golden Comet but she started laying again when winter ended). Her poops were sparse and watery. I noticed when she bent her head down to attempt to take a drink or eat a treat, water would come out of her mouth. I picked her up for an examination and could tell she'd lost weight and that her crop seemed swollen. When I pried open her mouth to check inside she spewed out a foul-smelling, watery, brownish colored liquid that contained some long grass strands. I did online research and realized she likely had sour crop. I read on this thread about the Monistat 3 cure but I was very hesitant to give her human medicine. For about a week I tried, every day or two, gently massaging her crop and very gently and carefully helping her to vomit. She always vomited out liquid, a bit thicker than water. She did smell a bit bad. She lost weight, stopped roosting, would sleep in a nesting box and eventually would not go outside of the coop when I opened the door each morning. Her bright red comb flopped down, turned very blue and seemed to shrink a lot. At one point I thought she would die for sure if I didn't try something. She would not leave the nesting box and was just laying inside it with her wings held away from her body, eyes half-closed and her beak open, sort of panting. I bought Monistat 3, cut each pill into thirds and, after helping her vomit to empty her crop a bit, I gave her a third of a pill in the morning and a third of a pill at night. It seemed to help immediately. I did this for nine days until I used up the package but apparently it wasn't a long enough treatment. Within a few days she seemed ill again. I got two more boxes. I could only get suppository capsules so I had to cut off the hard shell on each then carefully divide each into thirds. I did find if I mashed the medicine into some bread and milk she would eat it without having to open her beak and make her eat it. While she was recovering I offered her daily treats like sardines, cheddar cheese, Greek yogurt mixed into wheat bread and corn meal, blueberries, etc... While I was nursing her I read someone on this forum suggest worming could help sour crop. I never wormed my chickens before. I got Wazine liquid wormer, mixed it into her drinking water jug one morning, according to the dosage, and that seemed to really bring her back to normal even quicker. She made a full recovery, her comb became large, straight and bright red again and within a few weeks she even laid several eggs! Her recovery was astounding. Sorry I didn't take before and after photos. I gave her the Wazine wormer again, 30 days later. She's doing very well now, looks healthy and has gained back her lost weight. She still will only sleep in her nesting box (not on the roost). She seems to have chronic diarrhea now and stopped laying eggs but she's pretty old for a Golden Comet. She's outlived the three other Golden Comet chickens I've had. Overall, she's doing okay for her age. Thank you so much. Monistat 3 and Wazine liquid wormer can cure sour crop!!! Please Backyard Chickens, NEVER REMOVE THIS THREAD!!!
