Sour Crop not improving

[mama23]

Miconazole at first, full treatment. The suppositories are made from solidified oil in Canada. It's a bit like soap. I need to break it down to administer it. Kind of hard to administer, but I did it for the full 7 days, without improvement except for 1 morning (2 days after the start) when the crop was empty and flat in the morning. It came back after (the squishy crop, by the end of day no emptying after, except for yesterday morning).

I also gave her coconut oil during that time and massaged her crop. No improvement either.

I've waited a day or 2 and decided to try Clotrimazole. I read a couple of articles where people had a better luck with it than Monistat and it's in a cream format, so easy to give. I gave her 1cc 3x a day. It's a 6 days treatment. No improvement.

At some point, without any smell, I'm very doubtful that this is a sour crop.

If it's blocked down there, how is the flush going to work on the Impaction? By softening it?

As for the pre-digested part, the crop itself is not supposed to help digest the food. It stocks the food over there to be digested below. The food that is coming out when she overflows or when I made her vomit the other day was very very very mushy, liquid with nothing but mush in it. I agree it can be because of the liquid in the crop turning it into a mush instead of being pre-digested as I proposed.

Hey I stopped being notified of this post so sorry I didn't see it till now. I wanted to give my painful journey of where I've been at since in case it helps. As of Saturday she got really dehydrated. I ended up taking her Sunday to get emergency crop surgery which I wasn't sure was going to do any good. She made it through it and began to poop that evening. She started acidified copper sulfate on Monday but still isn't wanting to eat. She only wants cat food, and I gave her maybe 15 pieces throughout the day yesterday. But here's the thing. All this time later (in a cage in my house, so no access to any roughage), she's still pooping out thick nasty grass. Some is roughage like tangled grass/hay looking stuff and some is digested (think the texture of the grass that gets stuck in your lawn mower when you get a clog from mowing wet grass) but maybe looks like it was stuck in her gizzard a while. So the first two pieces of cat food I gave her on Tuesday didn't come out, and neither did the near 15 pieces from yesterday. I am not giving her anymore till I see movement. I've never seen a chicken this impacted. She literally was blocked from crop to intestines. All of it. Vet cleaned out crop. She had a lesion on her crop lining maybe from the junk in her crop or from the yeast. She seems grossed out by the copper sulfate in the water but today is day four and I'm afraid to stop it. Stools went from normal consistency with thick digested grass to now watery stools with the same junk mixed in. It's a bit bile-ish in color too. I am afraid that cat food soaked up all of her liquids yesterday and that she may be a bit slow to drain and end up with yeast again but hopefully not. It's just so hard to know what to do. In my case, this girl didn't have any chance without the surgery. Not sure if that's an option for you, but if it happens to another of mine again I will do that going forward. I've had them done for blocked crops before but never a sour crop. This is all new territory for me.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock would a molasses flush be helpful here?

@mama23 tagging you so you see the post

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She seems grossed out by the copper sulfate in the water but today is day four and I'm afraid to stop it. Stools went from normal consistency with thick digested grass to now watery stools with the same junk mixed in. It's a bit bile-ish in color too.

Reconsult the vet who performed the crop surgery and ask how to move forward with treatments.

I would not give any flushes until you finish your course of treatment.

You are using Acidified Copper Sulfate in a plastic or glass container and not mixing with metal utensils, right?

What did they vet say to feed her? I'd give her her normal feed that has been soaked so it's wet mash. You can give scrambled egg to entice her.

I'm not seeing a thread for your hen, do you have one?

 

[mama23]

He’s just a regular vet who does procedures for me and X-rays when needed. He doesn’t know much about chickens otherwise. He just told me to let her eat feed right after surgery but it’s been ten days now so she should be ready for greens. She won’t eat wet mash. She finally stopped pooping out grass on day five or six post surgery so I added some grit to her by popping in a few pieces. Then slowly introduced greens. She can deal with chickweed okay but is not doing well with grass. I’ve watched her and she’s eating just thin soft baby grass but it’s coming out undigested still. She’s had six grit that I’ve given her. I don’t plan on giving her anymore without an X-ray to see what’s going on in her gizzard. I’m actually leaning more toward her gizzard still has some old greens stuck in there bc she passed some in her stool yesterday morning. It looked old. I don’t think her gizzard would work with that in it. I’m going to try a little molasses flush on her this morning and see if anything else comes out. I am imagining her gizzard enlarged and impacted. She acts great but appetite for dry feed has lessened bc she seems to have this desire to get outside. I’ve had hens do this in the past and it was bc they still had an impaction and were trying to relieve it by eating more roughage. I’m keeping her off the ground until I figure it out.

Reconsult the vet who performed the crop surgery and ask how to move forward with treatments.

I would not give any flushes until you finish your course of treatment.

You are using Acidified Copper Sulfate in a plastic or glass container and not mixing with metal utensils, right?

What did they vet say to feed her? I'd give her her normal feed that has been soaked so it's wet mash. You can give scrambled egg to entice her.

I'm not seeing a thread for your hen, do you have one?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I wouldn't give her anymore greens or grass, just plain feed.

Keep us posted on how the xrays go.

 

[mama23]

I wouldn't give her anymore greens or grass, just plain feed.

Keep us posted on how the xrays go.

@Wyorp Rock her gizzard seemed to calm down so I didn’t go for the X-ray but now I can smell that her sour crop she had three weeks ago before her crop surgery has returned. I did three days of copper sulfate after her surgery and stopped it bc her urates were looking weird and she was also refusing to drink it anymore. I wonder if that’s why things aren’t moving properly through her. I can only let her on the ground for brief periods and also she can’t eat a lot of anything or it will back up. But she doesn’t have a squishy crop in the morning so I think I’m at the beginning of it. So far the last few days I’ve been suspecting it I’ve smelled her and she smelled like rotten eggs but she hasn’t had any eggs to eat since surgery. Only today have I noticed the yeast smell. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had it all this time. I just personally haven’t smelled it. She’s refused feed for the last two weeks and only wants to range. I have to put feed pellets in her mouth and give her crickets and mealworms I ordered online. She acts totally normal and healthy aside from not eating feed. I am starting back up her copper sulfate today and added a little acv to it. I’m nervous about heavy metal buildup though. If she has yeast for sure is this enough to cause her slowed digestion? And do you think the copper sulfate can get rid of it for good? I am up for any other treatments but I don’t personally have good experience that monistat works but I would try nystatin if it’s a better option. I really want the best treatment at this point. I’m really disappointed after three weeks this is still going on.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ask your vet if they can give you Nystatin and run a fecal float to see if worms and/or Coccidia are contributing to her problems.

Often a slow crop/digestive system is found in hens that have an underlying conditions like reproductive disorders, cancer or? So many things.

She wants to range and not eat her food, that's up to you as for how you handle that. I normally allow mine to chicken while I treat them, so if they are roaming about and eating whatever then so be it. But I do understand you're trying to keep her away from eating something that might cause an impaction as well.

 

[mama23]

Ask your vet if they can give you Nystatin and run a fecal float to see if worms and/or Coccidia are contributing to her problems.

Often a slow crop/digestive system is found in hens that have an underlying conditions like reproductive disorders, cancer or? So many things.

She wants to range and not eat her food, that's up to you as for how you handle that. I normally allow mine to chicken while I treat them, so if they are roaming about and eating whatever then so be it. But I do understand you're trying to keep her away from eating something that might cause an impaction as well.

I want so much to turn her loose. I just can’t afford another surgery so I’m trying to ease her into it and so far it’s not working out. I do my own fecals and she’s been negative for everything. I’ve read on some threads that buff Orpingtons seem to have digestive issues more than other breeds and this is exactly my experience as well so I wonder too if there’s something genetic. I’ll try some anti fungals and see where we are.

 

[chickenherder26]

I want so much to turn her loose. I just can’t afford another surgery so I’m trying to ease her into it and so far it’s not working out. I do my own fecals and she’s been negative for everything. I’ve read on some threads that buff Orpingtons seem to have digestive issues more than other breeds and this is exactly my experience as well so I wonder too if there’s something genetic. I’ll try some anti fungals and see where we are.

How did this ever turn out for you?

 

[mama23]

How did this ever turn out for you?

Hey starting about one week after surgery when I would let her go out her crop would fill up and not empty. It was obvious about two weeks later that the yeast had come back. I knew she didn’t tolerate copper sulfate and the miconazole was worthless. I am a big fan of natural remedies bc pharmaceuticals have failed me so many times both in myself and my chickens. I’ve been using young living essential oregano oil (diluted to a specific strength) along with kyolic garlic as an “antibiotic” for years in lieu of baytril and other drugs that cause liver failure. The results have been great. So when I did a search and oregano popped up as a solution for yeast I used the same recipe but slightly stronger that I already had here. I did it for roughly six days (she was indoors with me for a month after surgery) and the yeast was gone and never came back. She was allowed outside to carefully reacclimate with her sisters after the treatment ended and has been back to herself since. She’s even laying eggs again. Thanks for asking!