Sour Crop or is there something bigger happening?!?

[#lovemychickens]

I received a batch of chicks from a hatchery and when they were about 4 days old, one of them started smelling like sour milk. His crop was squishy and felt like a small water ballon. I started giving him Monistat and treated him twice a day for seven days. During his treatment another one started smelling like sour milk too, so I started treating her. Both of them are Salmon Faverolles. I’ve been done treating him for about three days and he seemed like he was cured.. no more smell and his crop was normal. Today, I noticed he smells again like sour milk and is about half the size of the others. I received another batch of chicks from the same hatchery two weeks after my first batch. The second batch is about a week old now, and you guessed it, one them is also smelling like sour milk. So I have three chicks between 1-3 weeks old that smell like sour milk. I have cleaned their brooder and vacuumed it more times than I can count. I’ve given them fresh water several times a day. I have given probiotics and have even put in ACV in their water. Their food is fresh not wet or moldy. I don’t give them any treats just their chick food. I’m exhausted with all of this and I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve never had so many issues with chicks before. I don’t know what this is or how to fix them. Please help me!

 

[Chickinie]

Try giving the ones with the sour crop water with some bi-carb soda in it. The soda makes their crop neutral and they are usually able to pass what is in it. It's what I do for my baby parrots when they have sour crop. You don't need much bi-carb. Can you separate them?

 

[#lovemychickens]

I will find a way to separate them. What is bi-carb and where do I get it? I will try anything at this point!

 

[Chickinie]

Bicarbonate soda. The stuff you use in cooking, it makes plain flour into self raising flour. I live in Australia and I can get it at the main food stores. Are they lethargic at all?

 

[#lovemychickens]

They are a little lethargic. When the others are running around they usually are laying down but then they will get up and run around for short periods. They aren’t as active as the others and are eating less. Do I mix it in their water or give them the powder? How much and for how long? Should I stop the Monistat?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

So I have three chicks between 1-3 weeks old that smell like sour milk

Sour milk smell is not normal.. but what is the behavior? Are they still eating and drinking? I have never yet seen a chick that age with sour crop.

What type of bedding are you using?

Sour crop would be cause by slow digestion... add in some chick grit.. most starter feed have enough to accommodate digestion of the product.. but maybe not enough to digest or pass bedding or other foreign object.

Is the sour milk smell coming from their mouth? And what do their droppings look like? What breeds are they, all the same or different? Got pics?

Careful offering baking soda.. it's a mineral/electrolyte.. that reduces acidity... while you've been giving acv to increase acidity in the gut. It wouldn't be MY choice... Noting that I am not a know it all just an over thinker with SOME understanding. Sour things do SEEM acidic.

I would CONSIDER doing a system FLUSH with Epsom salt instead followed by a short term probiotic/electrolyte supplement... Please research it more though if you go this route.

If a chick is getting sour crop at 4 days old... I would consider it a symptom of failure to thrive.. something NOT going right in the digestive system or other internal organs that we can't detect. Are these 3 chicks from your own stock? Could it be a genetic anomaly/weakness? I see they are hatchery stock.. which means anything is possible.

One note on the most common brooder related issue.. coccidiosis can happen AFTER 1 week of age, since it takes at least 6 days after OVER exposure before any symptoms like lethargy, reduced appetite/thirst, standing around with feathers puffed up and eyes closed, sometimes bloody droppings.. can appear. Things like this WILL get the weakest links first.. so be aware of this possibility, noting it happens most when droppings are in the water dish. Dry bedding helps stop it in it's tracks.

One thing that MIGHT make a difference.. are your chicks under a light or other heating source? If under a light with access to feed all night.. it might be more ideal to use a heat plate or infrared heat lamp... eliminating access to feed overnight and allowing the crop to empty by morning?? Just brain storming here!

Thinks like Marek's can contribute to slow crop... but your chicks are too young to have ANY symptoms of that yet either.

One more note.. Salmon Faverolle are huge birds that often grow and mature slower than the other chicks in the group of different breeds.

Sorry I can't be more help. Hope your chicks recover and start to thrive with the others quickly!

 

[#lovemychickens]

They are still eating and drinking but it seems like the others are always at the food where these three are only there maybe half the time. The first two were from the same batch that I got from the hatchery and are the same breed- Salmon Faverolles. One is a male and one is a female. The male did have something hard in it’s crop and has since then passed it. I don’t feel it anymore but still has that sour milk smell. The smell is definitely coming from their beaks. I have pine shavings- the larger ones not the fine ones. I have both heat sources in my brooder box. I have the heat plate and the red light. Our brooder box is about 4x9 and we have 15 chicks in there. Some don’t like the heat lamp and others do so I have both at opposite ends so they can self regulate. How do you do an Epsom salt flush? All of them were vaccinated for Mareks and the first batch was vaccinated for cocci.. the second batch couldn’t be vaccinated for cocci because they were shipped with meat birds..(someone else’s order). Should I treat with Corrid for the cocci? Their droppings look normal for the most part. Once in a while I will see a watery looking one. The third one That has it is a black copper maran and it’s a little over a week old. I did have chick grit in there but recently ran out so I’ve put a small dish of gravel in there with various sizes. Out of all the times I’ve had chickens, I’ve never experienced this before. I’m just at a loss and am frustrated and exhausted. I want to try to help them but I just don’t know how.

 

[Chickinie]

They are a little lethargic. When the others are running around they usually are laying down but then they will get up and run around for short periods. They aren’t as active as the others and are eating less. Do I mix it in their water or give them the powder? How much and for how long? Should I stop the Monistat?

Mix it with their water. Only like a tsp to a litre. It allows them to basically pass the gross stuff in their crop through their digestive system because the bi-carb makes it more digestible for them. So I'd say you wouldn't need the Monistat as well.

When their crops empty, or not as liquidy, try giving them plain water again and give them something to pep them up. Yoghurt is good for digestive issues.

Make sure their warm enough, being cold makes crops slow.

 

[Chickinie]

Did your chicks get better?

 

[#lovemychickens]

Did your chicks get better?

They all did with the Monistat treatment.. with the exception of the one who had it and then I thought it was gone after the seven days of treatment.. there was no more smell and the crop was empty in the morning.. but then two days later it was back. I have a friend who took him and is going to do an Epsom salt flush. I haven’t talked to her for a few days so I’m not sure how it all turned out. It just baffles me as to how I had three of them with it?!?