Sour Crop Prognosis Help

[Toddrick]

I had my first case of sour crop on my Buckeye chick who is about 12 weeks old. I check on them every day so I'm sure I noticed her enlarged crop right away. The day before we had let them in the yard and they were vigorously eating some leaves off of a small tree, so I'm guessing that was the cause.

Anyways, I withheld food until she was having almost clear diarrhea. I put ACV and Rooster a poster in her water. Her crop did not go down. I mixed monostat with boiled egg yolks and fed her that only for a whole day until the smell and bloating was gone.

Right now I'm still feeding her boiled eggs and yogurt only. It's been almost four days. She is in good spirits, her poo is firm again, and she is getting used to being treated like royalty. But her crop is still very large and only shrinks maybe 50% at the most overnight. It's not squishy or gross, but just big and pendulous.

I want to get her back on regular feed and with the other birds, but I just don't know what to expect. I'm sure I treated her successfully for sour crop, but will her crop ever function normal again? Should I keep her on soft food for a couple more days at least?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I had my first case of sour crop on my Buckeye chick who is about 12 weeks old. I check on them every day so I'm sure I noticed her enlarged crop right away. The day before we had let them in the yard and they were vigorously eating some leaves off of a small tree, so I'm guessing that was the cause.

Anyways, I withheld food until she was having almost clear diarrhea. I put ACV and Rooster a poster in her water. Her crop did not go down. I mixed monostat with boiled egg yolks and fed her that only for a whole day until the smell and bloating was gone.

Right now I'm still feeding her boiled eggs and yogurt only. It's been almost four days. She is in good spirits, her poo is firm again, and she is getting used to being treated like royalty. But her crop is still very large and only shrinks maybe 50% at the most overnight. It's not squishy or gross, but just big and pendulous.

I want to get her back on regular feed and with the other birds, but I just don't know what to expect. I'm sure I treated her successfully for sour crop, but will her crop ever function normal again? Should I keep her on soft food for a couple more days at least?

Is she still in a brooder with a light on?
Does she have a source of poultry grit (crushed granite0?
How long did you withhold food?
Is she drinking well?

Feed her wet chick start only, offer some poultry grit free choice (crushed granite), you can also offer a little chopped egg and some yogurt as a treat. Watch to see that she is drinking plenty of water.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

 

[Toddrick]

She is drinking plenty of water and has a good appetite. My question is what to expect. Will she always have a pendulous crop, or does it just take weeks to go away (and if so, when is it okay to return her to the flock)?

I had her on liquids only for a whole day. Then I gave her starter feed with water and meds in it for two days. Now I'm giving her boiled egg yolks with oat meal for the last day. Crop is not infected but not shrinking. Poo is returning to normal, which is good sign that there is not a total blockage. Crop is still 50% full in morning, which is still larger than a normal crop when full.

I guess the obvious conclusion is that she is still impacted. So I'll go back to a mostly liquid diet again. Poor thing.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is drinking plenty of water and has a good appetite. My question is what to expect. Will she always have a pendulous crop, or does it just take weeks to go away (and if so, when is it okay to return her to the flock)?

I had her on liquids only for a whole day. Then I gave her starter feed with water and meds in it for two days. Now I'm giving her boiled egg yolks with oat meal for the last day. Crop is not infected but not shrinking. Poo is returning to normal, which is good sign that there is not a total blockage. Crop is still 50% full in morning, which is still larger than a normal crop when full.

I guess the obvious conclusion is that she is still impacted. So I'll go back to a mostly liquid diet again. Poor thing.

Once you get the crop cleared, then hopefully it will go back to it's normal size. There's no way to know if it will become "pendulous" or stay that way until you get the impaction taken care of.

The article I referenced above, gives good instructions for helping to clear an impacted crop - using Ducolax to help break down the matter that is in there. She also needs some grit free choice to help grind that up. Some blockages can't be moved without human intervention (crop surgery) so, if you have a vet that can assist you, you need to consider that.

Crop issues are usually a symptom of an underlying condition like worms, cocci or reproductive disorders. A vet can test a fresh poop sample to determine if she has worms or a Cocci overload which may be part of the problem.

Let us know how she's doing.

 

[Toddrick]

I didn't see the link. That had a couple things I did not try. So I gave her a tiny bit of egg with Dulcolax and I put Epsom salt in her water. We'll see when I get home if that cleared her out.

 

[Toddrick]

Very little improvement from the Dulcolax and Epsom salts so far. I'm going to keep her on liquids longer than a day this time, which is going to be messy because it starts coming out both ends. If she hasn't gotten better by Monday I'll take her to the vet to have her crop cleaned out. But if anyone has any other tips in the mean time let me know.

She's my only Buckeye, and my only heritage breed. She's always been the runt, probably just because she matures slower than the others. It would be a shame to lose her, but if the blockage is a tumor or something I know there is nothing I can realistically do for her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does she have grit?

Here's the link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

 

[Toddrick]

Yup she's always had grit. The Dulcolax and Epsom seems to have done the trick! This morning her crop was back down to normal size. It feels like a hard marble at the moment. It's so weird because I vomitted her last night and her crop was almost the size of a baseball even when empty. I was afraid she'd have a pendulous crop for life because it got all stretched out or something, but it sure looks normal all the sudden.

I'm just going to leave the Epsom in her water and feed her a few small meals with yogurt to see if she processes that okay. Then switch her to regular water and food this evening, and hopefully back in the coop tonight or in the morning.

 

[Toddrick]

Well that's weird. Her crop was small this morning but big and swollen again when I got home from work, even though I only gave her about a teaspoon of food this morning.

Argh. This is frustrating because we already thought she was better. I guess I'll have to keep her inside and repeat the whole process a third time.

She is definitely more energetic but still loves to preen on my lap and will stay there for a half hour quiite content. If she lives through this she will be the most tame bird I've ever had.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well that's weird. Her crop was small this morning but big and swollen again when I got home from work, even though I only gave her about a teaspoon of food this morning.

Argh. This is frustrating because we already thought she was better. I guess I'll have to keep her inside and repeat the whole process a third time.

She is definitely more energetic but still loves to preen on my lap and will stay there for a half hour quiite content. If she lives through this she will be the most tame bird I've ever had.

Do you have her separated or is she with the flock?