Sour crop struggles

[Godiva]

I have a young bantam cochin x silkie hen who has been dealing with sour crop since last week. I started her on miconazole cream 2% on Wednesday and have been giving it (with difficulty!!) twice a day. Initially she showed some improvement - but today is back to bubbly stinky burps and obviously not feeling good. I have withdrawn feed completely this evening - I have been feeding moistened layer/grower combo since that's what everyone is on at the moment. Should I just feed scrambled egg for now until she's looking better? How long until she can go back to normal feed? She's extremely difficult to get her beak open and give oral meds! I've dealt with other birds who were sooooo much easier to dose! This little hen is a monster wiggler and I am afraid of hurting her... I have read the articles and threads on sour crop many times, but could do with a little advice please

 

[azygous]

How much miconazole are you give her? I use about an inch of cream. Have you tried offering it to her to eat off your finger? You may be surprised that she might prefer it that way. Some chickens do. I've also tricked a very, very stubborn hen to take the dose by dipping raisins in the miconazole until I got the entire dose down her.

This stuff isn't easily overdosed, so don't hesitate to increase the amount you give twice a day or give it three times a day. Sometimes the yeast is just too overwhelming for the normal dosages.

It's also not uncommon for the yeast infection to go all the way down to the gizzard. This slows down the treatment and prolongs the full crop since things beyond the crop aren't moving either. Patience and persistence. Keep on doing what you're doing.

If the crop seems to be not wanting to empty even a little, you might try a crop bra to support the crop in a higher position. That can help it drain. You can also very gently cup the bottom of the crop and lift it about a third of the way higher while very gently "tickling" the bottom of the crop with your fingers to stimulate the contents to rise toward the crop drain.

 

[Godiva]

Thanks very much Azygous! I've been giving her about half an inch of the miconazole so I am going to increase it. Thanks for calming my concerns - what about the feed situation? Should I separate her and feed her something different, or can she stay with her flock?

 

[Godiva]

Gugulethu (my hen) probably would love to eat my finger with the miconazole lol. She's such a sweet bird - aside from being a VERY enthusiastic finger muncher and being so good at getting out of my hands lol. I will definitely try the raisin/miconazole treats! And the gentle lifting of her crop....

 

[Godiva]

@azygous can you advise me on my two questions above please?

 

[Godiva]

I tried raisins this morning - Gugulethu was convinced that I was trying to poison her. Had to wrestle her this morning and it's awful because I think she hurts herself fighting us. This afternoon we thought of smearing it onto a spinach leaf - she's crazy for greens at the moment. It worked! She was suspicious - but she was hungry enough to eat it anyway. Added kefir to her food and she was thrilled. No appetite yesterday, so it's an improvement today

 

[Shezadandy]

I tried raisins this morning - Gugulethu was convinced that I was trying to poison her. Had to wrestle her this morning and it's awful because I think she hurts herself fighting us. This afternoon we thought of smearing it onto a spinach leaf - she's crazy for greens at the moment. It worked! She was suspicious - but she was hungry enough to eat it anyway. Added kefir to her food and she was thrilled. No appetite yesterday, so it's an improvement today

Here's my favorite reference for all things crop related. It's a big read but there's a lot of good consolidated information in it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

 

[Godiva]

I've been reading and rereading this. Thanks

 

[Godiva]

Update on Gugulethu's crop. I've had to cage her because she's determined to eat all the pine shavings! I gave her miconazole for about a week or 10 days. She didn't get worse but she also didn't get better. I was concerned about doing the miconazole for too long so decided to change tack for a while and then restart if necessary. So I have been mixing colloidal silver with her feed and adding oregano and thyme (freeze dried) to her feed too. This seems to have done the trick! At last the stink from her beak is gone, she's pooping and hungry again. Her crop is much smaller now and I am hoping that in the next couple of days she'll be well enough to return to the flock. Still a small amount in her crop in the morning now.

I'm focusing on probiotics and vitamins for now and will continue the silver for now too. Any idea why she's so fixated on eating the shavings?

 

[Shezadandy]

I'm glad you've found a good solution and she's regaining health. The shavings fixation is something of a mystery. I doubt there are any documented cases of "pica" in chickens but one of mine would eat anything, anything at all, except for pine pellets. That was the one safe bedding- maybe she ate those too --- but at least if she swallowed those they'd break down into tiny bits- shavings, straw, any access to any kind of foliage - instant impacted crop.