Sour Crop Question

[qwigoqwaga]

Would it be bad to introduce multiple different treatments at once for sour crop?

One of our chickens had a crop blockage last year and eventually recovered after expensive vet treatment and multiple times a day of massages and medication and I think she came out of it with a slow crop. Previously it would flare up and not drain overnight but it would go away after a couple days with a crop bra.

Since about late March (a year after her initial problem), her crop has not be draining and for most of that time she hasn't been able to get on the roost at night and has been sleeping on the coop floor. She's had crops bras on and off in that time, but now she's so huge the crop bra keeps slipping down underneath her crop. She was still doing ok last weekend, but when I saw her last night she was very pale and weak. She couldn't stand or walk with the crop bra on so we took it off. She's still weak and off balance today, even without the crop bra, because her crop is just so heavy, but we did put a crop bra on her (and it of course slipped down again).

I think she probably has sour crop now. Her crop is not hard and felt like it was filled tight with gas today although previously it's been liquidy. When I squeeze it, there's gurgling and sometimes she's tilt her head up like she's drinking because I think I'm probably squeezing some back up her throat. It's hard to tell if her breath smells because everything smells out there. She doesn't have any beak leakage, so she not totally filled up yet.

Because she's weak, that seems to indicate that she's not really getting much nutrition although she has previously been eating and drinking at least some. Last weekend I saw her do a smelly, mushy green poop.

We asked our vet since we didn't want to have to bring her in again and she suggested giving her 20cc of water twice a day and massages, although that sure seems like a lot of water. She also recommended watered down food and we tried that this morning and I got her to take some by syringe, but she wasn't really interested in eating. She also suggested probiotics, which I bought today and put in their water and gave her 4cc of by syringe. She said that she would have prescribed antibiotics rather than anti-fungal medication, but everything I've read here indicates an anti-fungal medication should be used. Since she's in such bad shape now, I don't want to order nystatin or medistat online and how to wait for it to arrive, I'd rather just go out to the store and get some miconazole and try that.

Since she hasn't been eating much, I was also thinking of getting a poultry nutrient drench and giving her that. But I'm wondering if we should just do things one at a time or if it's ok to just try everything at once since she's so weak now.

I'm also wondering how you can get them to eat the miconazole cream and what the dosing should be.

 

[azygous]

The hen is likely weak from hunger. A persistently full crop robs the appetite, and as food consumption dwindles, the chicken gets weaker until they become too weak to eat.

Miconazole is the most effective yeast med I have used. It's cheap and easily obtained. You need to pry open the beak and squirt about one half to an inch of the cream inside the hen's mouth. Twice a day, no less, for seven days, no less.

Probiotics given directly into the chicken rather in the water are more effective. You want the microbes inside the hen's digestive system, not floating around in water that may not be drunk.

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

 

[qwigoqwaga]

@azygous
Do you just squirt it straight out of the tube? If so, how do you measure? Could I use a syringe to give it to her? How many ml/cc would it be? I just bought a 1.5 oz tube of 2% miconazole.

They only had powder at the store. I saw someone on here say that yogurt wasn't the best to give since it can make them more mucus-y.

I've read that thread and will probably reference it again.

 

[azygous]

It's not that important to measure. You aren't going to overdose her. More is better than not enough. I have far too much to do besides measure doses, so I force open the beak and squirt enough cream into the mouth the fill it, sort of like squirting whipped cream. Ever do that? Good times.

Some hens will eat it off your finger, so try that first. I had a hen that forced me to dip a raisin in the miconazole before she would take it. It's takes about five raisins to get enough miconazole into the spoiled patient.

There is little danger of a mucous attack with yogurt, but if you are concerned, buy a bottle of probiotic tablets and pop one into the hen each day.

 

[qwigoqwaga]

Ok, that's good to know, thanks.

She ended up eating it off my finer. It's the nutri-drench she hated.

Are there any brand names or places to buy tablet forms you can recommend?

Last night, we put her in the coop early because we were going out to dinner, thinking she would stay there. Apparently, she tried to come out and fell out of the coop (our coop is raised and there's no treads left on the ramp and she's still having balance problems). My parents said they found her laying on the ground in a puddle of liquid. It seems she landed on her crop and it forced a lot of the liquid that was in her out. Thankfully she doesn't seem to have been hurt in the fall. Her crop is still big but much smaller than it was (we could actually get a crop bra on her!) and it's more doughy than liquidy now. She actually seems a little more alert today, although she's still having a hard time balancing with the crop bra on. We brought her into the garage in a box so we can get to her more easily and she's interested in wet food a little bit, so we're offering as much food and syringe water as she'll take and frequent massages (she is doing the head bobbing like she's trying to barf something up).

 

[qwigoqwaga]

She got her last dose of miconazole this morning.

She is looking much better. Her color is back and she's not acting like she feels badly anymore. Her crop is much smaller (the crop bra really isn't holding anything now) and now it's hard. What does that mean?

Also, when can we go back to normal dry pellets instead of a wet mash? Should we wait until her crop is completely empty overnight or can we go back to regular free choice pellets now?

 

[azygous]

Is she getting grit? Also, give her a probiotic tablet each day for a while to reestablish good microbes in her system. She can go back to dry feed anytime she'll eat it.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I would slowly reintroduce solid feed once her crop seems to be emptying well again and keep an eye on her. It’s very likely that this will be a recurring issue with her.

 

[qwigoqwaga]

@azygous Not specifically. Their run is mostly dirt, so we don't put out grit usually, but we could for her.

@Artichoke Lover Ok. Yes, I think it is at this point.