Sour crop, red wine, what am I doing?!

[CuckooOrpington]

I found a video from youtube:

In the video, he seemed to massage her crop for long periods of time but I would do 20 seconds just to be safe. He didn't do it entirely right: Give the hen breaks, be gentle and don't use as much force as that otherwise it will get in her airways.

A lot of people have done basic surgery but that seems too extreme unless a qualified vet does it. She won't aspirate if the treatment is done carefully - make her vomit for a short amount of time. I read that 20 seconds is ideal in a book but I did 15 seconds for my sussex. You don't have to empty the whole crop in one go - you can do it 2 or 3 times a day to be safe and at her pace. I couldn't find many atricles with images though.

The guy in the video was holding her by the legs but this can hurt a hens joints so it is best if you have someone else to hold her body too. Otherwise holding your middle fingers between the legs makes it easier on the chook.

 

[peepermama]

I went and checked on her a bit ago and her crop.still has something in it, even with no access to food. However it felt much less squishy, and whatever is in there feels a bit fibrous and some small hard bits, about the size of cracked corn. Still no poop. I'm at a loss. Every time I thinkno I've pinned down the issue she throws me for a loop and I'm back at square 1

 

[CuckooOrpington]

A common blockage is grass or hay tangled up in the crop (my sussex had this), bread or tomatoes and other scraps. It is normal for chooks to go uphill then downhill so keep an eye on her. How skinny is she? Is there much meat on eitherside of the breast bone?

 

[peepermama]

There is pretty much nothing on her breastbone. When I picked her up the first time and realized how bad she was in wanted to cry.

 

[peepermama]

Got home and decided I'd take her outside for a bit and when I picked her up I reali6her butt was caked in poo. Sat her in the warm bath, and now looking at her behind this doesn't seem normal... what the heck is going on?!

 

[peepermama]

I do not feel anything even remotely hard back there either

 

[CuckooOrpington]

The poop on her bum is diarrea - this is a common symptom of sour crop. I assume it is green?

Also I found this link if it is helpful at all:
http://luckyhensrescuenorthwest.weebly.com/crop-help-sheet.html

There is quite a few threads on Sour crop on BYC as well.

 

[peepermama]

The area under her vent is about the size of a tenni ball, now I'm wondering if it is peritonitis.

 

[CuckooOrpington]

The area under her vent is about the size of a tenni ball, now I'm wondering if it is peritonitis.

Egg peritonitis can cause a watery crop due to excess drinking - does she drink constantly? But the easiest way to tell peritonitis from Sour crop is by the smell of the hens breath. If it stinks, it's sour crop. Is her abdomen soft and squishy? I can't say it is peritonitis for sure as some of my perfectly healthy Sussex and ISA Browns have large bums like that whereas the Rhode Island Reds and Orpingtons don't have that rounded abdomen.

 

[peepermama]

I can't really say if she is drinking constantly, but she is drinking much more than she eats. When I let her out in the run she started pecking get around so I let her have some crumbles. At that point I decided to let her have some crickets in hopes that she would walk around a bit and get things moving. I tried sniffing her breath, and while I don't think it smells great it wasn't horribly bad. I'm going to get some duramycin tomorrow and give that a go. Also, after being outside and eating her crop became nice and firm feeling I'm curious what it will be like in the morning