Sour crop- is it to late to save her?

[#lovemychickens]

Oh, I know. I've been there so many times. Tonight will be rough for you both, but she should start to show some improvement by tomorrow.

I’m trying to stay positive but it’s really hard. I felt her crop and it feels like it’s full of air and it’s pretty big. It’s about the size of a baseball. She’s pretty weak. She can only stand for a few seconds and then lays down. She barely poops and if she does it’s the size of a pea to a dime. Still very dark blood almost black looking. I know she’s dehydrated and she won’t drink. I keep dipping her beak in water so she does get a few drops in. . With your experience do you think she’ll make it? Or if she has a good chance?

 

[azygous]

It's up to your hen. But it's been my experience that these chickens are tougher than we give them credit for. I don't believe she's close to death. A chicken that is going to die will have her eyes closed and she will be lying on her side. When someone posts a photo of a chicken in that posture, I will gently prepare them to expect their chicken to die in under 24 hours, that there's no chance for recovery, the chicken has spent all their reserve energy.

Your girl is weak but still fighting, and the antibiotic is doing its job. We really lucked out that the one you had on hand is the best one for this job. I also believe that, although she took a sudden turn for the worse, you got her on the antibiotic before she lost so much of her reserve energy that the antibiotic wouldn't have been able to help.

Let her rest now. And you rest, too. Unless there's something more going on that I can't picture right now, I think she's going to be better by morning.

 

[#lovemychickens]

The good news is she’s still alive this morning! She drank a little bit this morning and that is about it. Her stools are now a mix of some regular colored and some blood dark black color. Her crop is still big and full of air/ sour stuff. It doesn’t seem that the monistat is helping.. I wish the medstatin would get here faster! I really think if I could get her crop to go down, she’d eat and drink.

 

[Sally PB]

So glad she's still here! Sending hugs and positive waves.

 

[azygous]

Baby steps in the right direction are better than no steps at all. Try not to be overly concerned about her crop. It's a bi-product of her intestinal issue. That black stuff you see in her stool is likely dead intestinal lining from the inflammation (necrotic enteritis). Continue all the meds, and let them work. As the sulfa knocks down the bacteria and the Corid kills off the coccidia (if they are the culprits as we suspect) her blockage will lessen and the crop will drain.

This may happen quickly today and you'll see her perk up considerably, or it may take a few more days for this to happen more slowly. As long as you don't see her lie down, shut her eyes, and give up, she's showing us she's fighting.

 

[#lovemychickens]

I couldn’t wait to get home from work to see how’s she’s doing and things might be looking up! I don’t want to get my hopes up but I see a little bit of sunshine at the moment. She was standing when I got home, no blood anywhere in her stools, and she drank a lot of water. But as soon as she looked down at the ground a lot of it came back out. Her crop is still the same- large and squishy. Her breath still smells but I feel like it’s not as strong. She even ate about a tsp of meal worms and a few bites of chick feed. So I am going to say it’s a win for today! Let’s hope tomorrow shines brighter!!!

 

[MamaBelle5]

That is a huge difference!! Marvelous!

 

[azygous]

It's progress! The antibiotic is taking effect. It's halting the bacteria growth in the intestine. If we see more progress in the morning, we can be confident the infection is under control.

As I said, the crop will follow as her intestines start working again. Keep up the miconazole, the Corid and the sulfa. Offer soft food like soft boiled egg and yogurt. If the meal worms are live, they're okay, but not dried as they are hard on inflamed intestines.

 

[#lovemychickens]

It's progress! The antibiotic is taking effect. It's halting the bacteria growth in the intestine. If we see more progress in the morning, we can be confident the infection is under control.

As I said, the crop will follow as her intestines start working again. Keep up the miconazole, the Corid and the sulfa. Offer soft food like soft boiled egg and yogurt. If the meal worms are live, they're okay, but not dried as they are hard on inflamed intestines.

Oh no, they aren’t live meal worms.. did I set her backwards?!? She won’t eat eggs anymore and I tried the yogurt too. Should I wet the chick feed down? I went to check on her again and she has the food all over the place and all over her face. I think she must have thrown up and continued to peck it out of her dish that it just stuck all over her. What are some other food options to try with her?

 

[azygous]

It's okay. No real damage done, I'm certain. Any soft foods. Applesauce, raw egg or soft boiled (chickens adore runny yolk), yogurt, rice boiled extra long so it's very soft, cooked carrots and puree them. I keep several small jars of strained baby foods on my shelf just for sick chickens. They are useful if I need to tube feed. Get a few jars of the meats. You can try making a wet mash out of the feed.

Avoid seeds, dry feed, and dried hard foods.