Sour Crop Issue

[Dee125]

SexLink Hen 5-6 years old has had crop issues for last week. Have done vomiting off & on the whole time but last 3 days it's been 2-3 times/day. Read article on BYC about Sour Crop & have tried most of the options. She's lost almost all her weight, now skin & bones. She's been on regular layer pellets but with outside access 3-4 hrs/day. She hasn't been eating much so have been giving her 3-4 ml of pureed scrambled egg, chicken feed, baby food, chlorella powder & no sugar applesauce, 2-3 times/day. She's never had a "mass" or dough ball in her croup & I've found no signs of worms. But her crop fills constantly with liquid, plus what she's eaten but it just never moves on. Within 1/2 hour of vomiting crop is filled with a large gas bubble almost like something below the crop is fermenting, not allowing anything to move and passing gas back up into the crop.
I tried the cinnamon, ginger & lemon juice mixture for 2 days. Then 3 treatments of the Ducolax - last one was this morning. Been giving Vaginal cream 2 times/day for last 2 days, thinking maybe it's a yeast infection. She is pooping, but not a lot cause she just hasn't eaten enough to poop. I did loose one of her brood mates about 6 months ago & vet said she had a tumor that was causing her death.
I feel like if I could just stop whatever is making the "fermenting" to occur I'd be able to get food moving through her. Right now I spend about 15 minutes massaging her crop every time I get food down her, in hopes it will keep moving through her system. Suggestions??

 

[cottagecheese]

You gave enough details and no doubt remains: you are dealing with yeast and this is sour crop. It is a mistake to make her vomit though, because she could get fluid into her lungs like that, and vomiting gives very short time relief anyway. Only impacted crops should be massaged, this is sour crop. The stool softener is only for impacted crop.

Miconazole will kill the yeast and you want to help it as much as possible by starving the yeast, soft boiled egg and plain yogurt with live cultures are the best things to feed in the beginning. No applesauce, even without added sugar it would still make the yeast happy. No 'feed'. This is a must read:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

There is something worrisome though, namely the age and breed of your lady could mean that there are more issues.

 

[coach723]

Do you know when this bird last layed? At this age reproductive problems (like cancer) are not uncommon and one of the symptoms can be crop stasis. Due to the stuff going on internally their digestive system slows or stops due to the underlying illness or a blockage caused by it. Is there any bloating in the abdomen, below the vent between the legs? It may feel water balloon like, or very firm, you can compare with other birds who are not ill. Sour crop can be a result of the food not moving from the crop in these cases and will just continue to recur as the crop refills and the food sits again. Besides illness a blockage or impaction can occur lower in the digestive tract from eating things they can't digest or pass, long fiberous grasses or foreign objects being common causes.
Here is another good article that may help you narrow it down, crop problems can be frustrating to diagnose:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

 

[Dee125]

You gave enough details and no doubt remains: you are dealing with yeast and this is sour crop. It is a mistake to make her vomit though, because she could get fluid into her lungs like that, and vomiting gives very short time relief anyway. Only impacted crops should be massaged, this is sour crop. The stool softener is only for impacted crop.

Miconazole will kill the yeast and you want to help it as much as possible by starving the yeast, soft boiled egg and plain yogurt with live cultures are the best things to feed in the beginning. No applesauce, even without added sugar it would still make the yeast happy. No 'feed'. This is a must read:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

There is something worrisome though, namely the age and breed of your lady could mean that there are more issues.

Thank you so much for the advice. Saw your post this morning so took your advice, no vomiting - her crop was huge but she had drank over a 1-1/2 cups of water. Gave her 1cc of Miconazole & about 3cc of blended scrambled egg & chicken feed. Made it home about 6 hrs later & she had pooped all over. All very liquidy, some all brown & some yellowish/clear. Nothing really solid so figure the Dulcolax had kicked in. Nice day so had let the other 6 hens outside & decided to put her out with them. She immediately started foraging so took that as a good sign. 3 hrs later brought her inside for the night with another 1cc of Miconazole & about 4cc of blended scrambled egg & chicken feed plus 2cc organic yogurt w/live culture. Didn't vomit but her crop is huge like a balloon & squishy. Massaged a little & she let out a huge belch & crop went down a bit. I can keep with 1cc Miconazole twice a day, but please advise on the food. I syringe feed which is why everything is blender. Either I have a magic touch or my hens know when to hold their breath cause I've probably syringe fed over 100 times & haven't asphyxiated anyone yet. Right now doing scrambled egg, chicken layer pellets & plain yogurt 2-3 times per day. Suggestions on a better menu?
There definitely could be under lying issues. She & her 3 sisters all quit laying late last summer, so figure egg bound is not an issue. One sister die because of a tumor, but other 2 sisters are OK just definitely slowing down. They did come from local farm store via I'm sure a "factory farm". Since they aren't considered a "fancy breed" thought I wouldn't have so many egg bound/health issues with the Sexlink, & I really haven't had many. I did make a mistake on age- she's more like 6-7 years. So please explain more with your comment on the age & breed.

 

[Dee125]

Do you know when this bird last layed? At this age reproductive problems (like cancer) are not uncommon and one of the symptoms can be crop stasis. Due to the stuff going on internally their digestive system slows or stops due to the underlying illness or a blockage caused by it. Is there any bloating in the abdomen, below the vent between the legs? It may feel water balloon like, or very firm, you can compare with other birds who are not ill. Sour crop can be a result of the food not moving from the crop in these cases and will just continue to recur as the crop refills and the food sits again. Besides illness a blockage or impaction can occur lower in the digestive tract from eating things they can't digest or pass, long fiberous grasses or foreign objects being common causes.
Here is another good article that may help you narrow it down, crop problems can be frustrating to diagnose:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

Thank you for the reply. She & her 3 sisters quit laying late last summer so don't think she's egg bound. This morning her crop was huge but she had drank over a 1-1/2 cups of water. Gave her 1cc of Miconazole & about 3cc of blended scrambled egg & chicken feed. Made it home about 6 hrs later & she had pooped all over. All very liquidy, some all brown & some yellowish/clear. Nothing really solid so figure the Dulcolax had kicked in.
She definitely could have internal issues like cancer. One sister died 6 months ago because of a tumor. Other 2 are OK but definitely slowing down.
In the beginning her abdomen was bloated but she's so thin now, plus with all the pooping today it's really not very big. I'm still giving her 1cc of Miconazole twice a day hoping that maybe the problem is just yeast infection.
At first she had lots of stuff in her vomit - grass, bugs, worms, grain. But nothing strange to cause a blockage & would say there is definitely nothing blocking the crop now but have no idea past that point. Her crop generally feels like a full balloon filled either with mostly water or a gruel like constancy of extremely wet chicken feed with a sour smell.
She's more like 6-7 years of age so know she's well past her prime but would like to see her live out a more comfortable life, but also hate to see her suffer. So do you have any suggestions on how to get things moving through her system again, or if there is no hope do you have any idea how to put her down humanly? It cost $200 to have her sister put down & it took almost an hour. There has got to be a better way. Thank you.

 

[cottagecheese]

About the menu, everyone has their own opinion, but I feel that the miconazole should be given every chance to succeed by not providing food that the yeast enjoys. So no 'chicken feed', it's too high in carbs. Just boiled egg and some plain yogurt.

About the age & breed, I was trying to allude to the fact that something (really hate to use this word) terminal could be going on. Alluding but not completely 'dropping the hammer'. Thinking that even if it is possible and maybe even probable that she could be approaching the end of the road, what if she isn't? Maybe she can't be saved, but maybe she just ate something hard to digest, or she's being bullied (stress can make the body hospitable to yeast), or she had antibiotics, and so on... Hoping that it's just yeast, as you say...But in your very last comment, you mention that 'in the beginning her abdomen was bloated', so unfortunately now I must tone down my optimism.

 

[coach723]

I think you have done pretty much everything you can do to try to get stuff moving. You say it's been going on for a week, but the weight loss suggests that it has probably been going on for awhile longer, it's just more obvious now with the enlarged crop. You can continue the miconazole for a while and see if it helps. Only you can decide when you think it may be time to stop trying. It can be a hard decision, I know. It should not take an hour to humanely euthanize a chicken. Unfortunately when you keep chickens there will come a time when it is necessary. There are several methods that are considered humane, this is how I do it:
https://www.muranochickenfarm.com/2017/06/the-easiest-way-to-cull-chicken.html

 

[Eggcessive]

Be aware that Dulcolax is a brand name, and used to be used just for the string laxative product, bisacodyl. They now make Dulcolax stool softener (doccusate sodium) as well, and several articles here on BYC advise to use Dulcolax stool softener. I am afraid that some people get the laxative product by mistake, and that would be harmful to use in a chicken. I wish people would just advise others to get docusate sodium—doss— or just a stool soften or Colase instead of using Dulcolax brand names.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Be aware that Dulcolax is a brand name, and used to be used just for the string laxative product, bisacodyl. They now make Dulcolax stool softener (doccusate sodium) as well, and several articles here on BYC advise to use Dulcolax stool softener. I am afraid that some people get the laxative product by mistake, and that would be harmful to use in a chicken. I wish people would just advise others to get docusate sodium—doss— or just a stool soften or Colase instead of using Dulcolax brand names.

View attachment 1736971View attachment 1736972

@Eggcessive I'm ambiently learning as much as I can from the emergency/diseases section to be as prepared as possible for future issues. Just want to make sure I understand correctly: bisacodyl is the bad one for chickens while doccusate sodium is good? Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Right, bisacodyl is a strong laxative, and should not be given to chickens. Colace or doccusate sodium is a stool softener. Unfortunately, someone started using the brand name Dulcolax on some threads, and that is only a brand name. Usually it means laxative, but they also got into making stool softeners, so it is best to not even use the brand name.