SOUR CROP: How to help hen?

[Sunny Side Up]

I have a RIR hen with what I think is sour crop. Yesterday I found her in the pen, laying on her keel with her head bent down. I thought it was stress from the heat, I put her by the water dish & watched her drink. She was moving around really slowly for the rest of the afternoon while the rest of the flock was out at recess. She went into the coop at night. This morning she was still moving slowly/sitting still. I put her in the hospital pen, with ACV-laced water and a dish with crumbles, yogurt & applesauce.

This afternoon I finally had a moment to check her more closely. She had wet greenish poop stuck on her butt-fluff and she did not seem to have eaten anything. But her crop was squishy & full -- not bloated -- but felt like a water balloon.

I did a quick search here & read some posts about the condition & how to treat her. I've done some treatment but still have some questions.

I made a solution of 1/2 C baking soda to a pint of warm water, and squirted some of it down her throat with a needle-less syringe. Then I held her on my lap with her head down, massaged upwards on her crop, and got her to expel some of the contents. It wasn't much, just some soggy feed and some bits of bread. I did this 3 times until I couldn't get any more out of her. Afterwards her crop felt almost empty. Then I washed off her bottom & put her back in the hospital pen.

I'm hopeful for her recovery. Although she's been sitting quiet & still, she still has good color, bright interested eyes, and struggled with a respectable amount of protest during the treatment.

What do I do now?
Should I continue to offer her the ACV-laced water?
Should I just leave it for her to drink free choice, or should I try to squirt some into her?
Should I offer her any food now?
Or let her fast for a day?
When I feed her again, should I give her the yogurt/applesauce/chicken crumble mix?
Does she need more baking soda & water taken in, any more help to empty her crop?

THANK YOU for your help & advice on my hen's behalf!

 

[Judy]

Have you read through the threads on the FAQ page about sour crop?

I have no experience with this.

 

[threehorses]

Good job on the crop-flush. You've gotten that nasty feed and bread out, clearing your bird of a lot of toxic slush.

For after care you'll want to make sure she only eats very easily dissolved feeds. That means feeds when placed in a glass of water will fall apart on their own. Her pellets, yogurt, boiled/mashed egg yolk. I like to use a little unsweetened applesauce or babyfood apple sauce to give some pectin and good pH (and a tempting taste) to encourage the living bacteria in the probiotics (yogurt) to recolonize the gut and digestive tract.

When food sours in the crop, it changes the pH of the entire digestive system and the toxic slush from the crop can kill off good bacteria and encourage bad bacteria and yeast. That's why we replenish with organic apple cider vinegar (non-organic doesn't have the same actions or ingredients) and yogurt or another probiotic. So keep using those things.

She can eat. I'd try the mash above first. She should drink free choice - just make sure she does drink.

A day's fast wouldn't hurt.... Just offer the fancy-mash first before any other food so that she gets some of it.

She should be ok with her crop, with the bacteria helping to get the digestive tract back up to speed.

Be sure to continue to monitor her droppings. They should solidify. Also check her thoroughly for any mites/lice, etc. Feel her weight, etc. You'll want to find out why this happened and correct that issue.

As for her droppings and those of the other birds - are they often green and runny? Are they at all frothy? Are these birds on a worming program once or twice a year?

Another thing to consider is grass.... do they free range or are they penned up? do they have a good source of grit? I guess there weren't any grass bits in her crop when you emptied it?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Yay, thank you for the speedy replies, I'll welcome any other helpful imput too.

I just went to check on the hen, Cherry Pie. She's sitting up on the roost where I put her, with a "what the heck was that all about?" look on her face. I can still feel a slight bit of squishy stuff at the bottom of her crop, but nothing like before. She hasn't touched the food, don't know if she's drinking.

Since it's almost sundown here I'm going to take out the food for the night. I will leave the ACV water in there. Tomorrow I have to leave the house from 10am-6pm. I will offer her some of the yogurt/applesauce/crumble feed in the morning. If she doesn't show interest in it then, I'll remove it until I come home in the late afternoon.

I'll be home all day Thurs & Fri, I'll monitor her more closely then. Once she's eating/drinking/pooping well and acting more perky I'll put her back with her flock.

They all were recently wormed, and checked for mites. They get out for recess in the yard after 2pm every day, where they get to eat greenstuff & dig in the dirt. Yesterday the kids neglected to let them out until about 4pm, and it was a record-breaking day for heat. They were very low on water in their pen, and I think they had been given some old bread earlier. So that all might have contributed to her sour crop. You're right, there wasn't any grass in the stuff that came out of her.

 

[threehorses]

Old bread can definitely cause those symptoms. So can heat, etc.

I'd try the other food, but definitely leave food for her during the day. The ACV in the water (one ounce per gallon of water) will also act as a bit of electrolyte and do some work on that crop while you're at work.

Great news that her crop is down. good! Checking her crop in the morning will let you know if it's empty. I suspect it will be.

Miss Cherry Pie and flock sound pretty happily spoiled! I hope this was just a heat thing. let us know, please, how she fares?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

It's midnight here & I just did a check of all the pens and checked on Cherry Pie too. There's still a little bit of squishy stuff to be felt at the bottom of her crop. If it's still there in the AM d'ya think I should try to expel it ? Or should I just offer her food and see if she's interested?

I was explaining sour crop to my 9-year-old son, who is also my top chicken wrangler and has learned a lot about chicken care along with me. He was wondering if those specialty yogurts like Activia would be extra beneficial to a chicken with sour crop. They're advertised as being good for human digestive tracts, would that go for chickens too?

And wouldn't you like to see their spokeswoman, Jamie Lee Curtis, doing a commercial in a chicken pen trying to sell Activia to the birds?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

This morning she still had the squishy stuff to be felt in her crop, no more or less. I made her a lovely breakfast of chick crumbles, yogurt & applesauce, and she took a few bites. I have to go for the day, hoping she'll have eaten more & have pooped well by the time I get home.

I guess if she hasn't, and her crop feels the same, I'll try to get her to expel it this evening.

The good thing is she is looking good, standing upright, head & tail up, good color to her comb/wattles, bright look in her eyes. This makes me hopeful for a full recovery, God willing!

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
LOL Yes, I would love to see that!

As for how she was this morning, that's not bad - it's very good that she was bright and chipper.

Yes, I think if it's still the same squishy stuff tonight and smells sour, I'd consider expelling it. But maybe in the mean time the cleansing foods will help. Let's hope!

How much would you guess is in there?

Incidentally the whole fancy yogurt thing absolutely cracks me up. The same living bacteria have been in yogurt since - well since the first batch of yogurt. But now they're "good for your health", etc. I haven't looked to see if they're using different types of bacteria. I suspect what they do is when they reinject the bacteria back into the yogurt product after pasteurization, they might put different combinations or maybe they put more? I'll have to look when I go to the store.

The reason I recommend plain is because of the lack of artificial sweeteners and added sugars. Well and the lack of chunky fruit as well. But for a one-time, I don't see where the others would hurt in a pinch. The one thing about activia is that it has Bifidobacteria and the usual Lactobacilli. The nice thing about Bifidobacteria is that they have been shown to inhibit toxin producing E. coli to a certain extent, which is useful in our birds. (That's why sometimes I remember to recommend checking out the health food store for probiotics aimed at helping relieve yeast infections; they usually contain not only the common Lactobacillus but also Bifidobacteria.

If they have it (I've never seen it at our stores) Activa plain would be the way to go. Most plain yogurts are vague about their bacterial content, but of course they all contain some sort of Lactobacilli and likely L. acidophilius.

Now that all that technical blather is done...

I hope you have good news waiting for you when you return home.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Thanks again for all your imput.

This afternoon I found Cherry Pie still looking good, but having eaten very little, maybe not more than the few bites I watched her take this morning. Her crop felt flat, no longer squishy. Before it felt like maybe only a few tablespoons of stuff. And there doesn't seem to be much poop at all. The hospital pen has a wire bottom, there wasn't any noticeable poop on or below the wire.

I made her a fresh dish of food, some scrambled egg, chick crumbles, a few pieces of apple & watermelon. Again, she took a few bites. I just checked on her and can feel the bottom bulge of her crop. It certainly isn't full, but maybe not as squishy as before.

I don't want her to be deprived of nutrients, must I "make" her eat? Or will her appetite return naturally? I'll try again in the AM, try to get some yogurt in her & some other healthy things.

 

[threehorses]

You'll probably have to keep giving her these foods to get her to eat. It's good that her crop is emptying. Just be SURE to please not use solid foods for a while until she's eating on her own.

I can't emphasize this enough.

Go with boiled egg, rather than scrambled. (Put scrambled egg and boiled in water and you'll see why). Use stuff that would fall apart in a bowl of water for a few days just to be sure. At least three or four days.

Which of the foods was she most likely to eat by the way? I'd use that to get her to eat more so she'll heal better.