Sour crop? Impacted crop? Help!

[walter123]

Just picked up 3 year old hens over the weekend. One has had diarrhea, but we thought she might just be stressed. Today she started staying away from the rest of the flock and became lethargic.

We read about impacted crop and sour crop, so we began massaging her crop and she spit out liquid.

After further massaging her crop, liquid spilled over the sides of her beak so we moved to tipping her upside down and she released a lot of liquid. It was kind of dark, so it was hard to tell the color, definitely not clear. My husband thinks greenish, I thought brownish. The liquid had a slight beer smell, but not very strong.

She’s isolated and sleeping now, but we’re not sure what to do and many articles have conflicting information, so any help is appreciated.

Our thoughts are to start by giving her a little water in the morning with Rooster Booster brand Vitamins & Electrolytes with Lactobacillus and then consider giving her a bit of food if she tolerates that well.

Thanks!

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Welcome to BYC!

Probiotics can be helpful, but she will probably need an anti-fungal like monistat as well. I always provide access to fresh water and food even during crop issues. Water is needed to help flush the system and if the hen feels well enough to eat I think she should.

Here is a short and to-the-point article about treating crop issues:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

And here is a more in-depth one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

Hope this helps and let us know how she does and if you have any more questions.

 

[walter123]

Thank you! Do you think we should try Monistat right away or wait to see if the probiotics help?

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Thank you! Do you think we should try Monistat right away or wait to see if the probiotics help?

Sorry I've had a couple busy days and didn't have time to check BYC... How's your girl doing now?

Crop issues can be difficult to treat. I would start the monistat now to try to get the yeast under control. Hopefully her system will get back to normal and there will be no more fluid buildup in her crop, but sometimes the yeast infection is secondary to some other issue slowing down her digestion, so, if after a few days of twice daily medication her crop is still feeling squishy and she still seems ill, you need to consider if she might have an obstruction/impaction in her crop or gizzard (in which case an epsom salt crop flush *might* help) or if she could have heavy worm load (in which case you'd want to deworm with valbazen) or if she could be suffering from coccidiosis or an infection (treat with Corid or antibiotics). There are other reasons for a slow crop, but these are the treatable ones I can think of right now.