Josie_G
Chirping
Hi Birdigo Im in Perth and currently also battling sourcrop. I find that for some reason I haven't identified every September I get a run of sourcrop or respiratory infections - it seems to be the combination of the weather warming up and the ground still being wet that triggers something.
I have previously tried Nilstatin (Nystat is the brand name, the vanialla flavour is tolerated better than the cherry) but found it be ineffective to be honest, as the liquid has to physically come into contact with the yeast to kill it. It is good at making the girls burp though and relieving the discomfort of the gas build up - once you have managed to get it into them you can gently massage their crop to mix it into the slime and gas ball in the crop. I also use De-Gas or Gas Busters on them - you can buy it from any chemist. Its a tiny capsule containing an oily substance called silmethicone which relives cramping and abdominal pain, and peppermint oil. Its AMAZING at causing burps and getting the gas out! I bite the capsule and squeeze the oil onto the side of their beak - the burps start a few seconds later. It can sometimes takes 3 or 4 capsules to get all the gas out but the result is a flat crop - for half a day anyway - and generally the girls suddenly realise they are starving and take the opportunity to scoff some feed before their crop blows up again. When massaging the crop, I tend to put one finger at the top to stop the slime ball being pushed into their throat, and then gently squeeze from various directions. If they have managed to eat you will feel the grains in there so be gentle, it must hurt and the skin is only thin but they feel so much better once the gas it out...you can see the relief on their little chicken-y faces.
The de-gas only eases the symptoms. In terms of actually getting rid of the cause, I have now moved to using fluconazole - its the same yeast (candida) that causes both sourcrop and thrush and fluconazole - the drug used to treat thrush in humans - is systemic to you dont need it to come into contact. You can buy a single (human) dose fluconazole capsule (50mg) over the counter of any pharmacy without a prescription (make sure its a capsule with powder in, not one of the suppositories or other treatments you can get) but the tablets I had were 200mg each so better value but require a prescription. I open the capsule, dissolve the powder in water and then dribble onto their beak.
The dose is generally 10mg/kg so depending upon how heavy your chook is you may need a few capsules so it would be worth asking the vet you saw to write a script for the 200mg capsules as it will be cheaper in the long run. You also tend to loose a lot of the meds as the girls wont want to take anything into their tummy as its so swollen and sore (getting rid of the burps first helps with this) and so you may actully only get half of your dose into them so the meds dont go as far as you think they will!
I've currently got 2 girls with it and am dosing them at a higher rate than 10mg/kg as its being persistent and wont go. Getting better but still there. Fluconazole is one of the safer anti-fungals and can be taken safely at higher doses (by humans anyway) - for eg the dose for human thrush is a one-off dose of 50mg, but if you have persistant thrush or a chronic skin infection causes by candida, the dose is 200mg for up to many months! So I figure increasing the dose wont hurt where it is being persistent; and given that your girls will likely flick a lot of their meds off their beak rather than swallowing it, you can't actually be that accurate with the dose anyway - you may put in your syringe enough liquid for their full dose but did they flick away half of it or just 1/3 ?? How much did they actually swallow?? You just have to guestimate and given them more to make sure they get their full dose - err on the side of giving more not less.
Its pretty painful administering meds to a chook!
BTW dont apologise for caring about your chooks. It breaks my heart that so many people dont and just let 'nature take its course' when they wouldnt dream of doing the same for their dog or kids. Any animal you bring into your life should receive the best medical care you can provide. Ive been sleeping with the girls in my bed (hubby is in the spare room, lots of towels down!) for the last few nights, either holding their crop flat with my hand to expel the gas as soon as it is created and supporting their head to stop it drooping, or having them resting on a pilow to achieve the same thing. They look and behave fine during the day (apart from only nibbling food, not actually eating properly) and so someone not paying attention wouldnt know they have it; but at night one of them spends the entire night doing this awful hiccup / cough / sneeze thing trying to get gas out: everytime she starts to fall asleep and her head droops it trigger it so she hasnt slept properly in a couple of weeks poor thing. Hence the crop-squashing head-supporting bedtime now!
I have previously tried Nilstatin (Nystat is the brand name, the vanialla flavour is tolerated better than the cherry) but found it be ineffective to be honest, as the liquid has to physically come into contact with the yeast to kill it. It is good at making the girls burp though and relieving the discomfort of the gas build up - once you have managed to get it into them you can gently massage their crop to mix it into the slime and gas ball in the crop. I also use De-Gas or Gas Busters on them - you can buy it from any chemist. Its a tiny capsule containing an oily substance called silmethicone which relives cramping and abdominal pain, and peppermint oil. Its AMAZING at causing burps and getting the gas out! I bite the capsule and squeeze the oil onto the side of their beak - the burps start a few seconds later. It can sometimes takes 3 or 4 capsules to get all the gas out but the result is a flat crop - for half a day anyway - and generally the girls suddenly realise they are starving and take the opportunity to scoff some feed before their crop blows up again. When massaging the crop, I tend to put one finger at the top to stop the slime ball being pushed into their throat, and then gently squeeze from various directions. If they have managed to eat you will feel the grains in there so be gentle, it must hurt and the skin is only thin but they feel so much better once the gas it out...you can see the relief on their little chicken-y faces.
The de-gas only eases the symptoms. In terms of actually getting rid of the cause, I have now moved to using fluconazole - its the same yeast (candida) that causes both sourcrop and thrush and fluconazole - the drug used to treat thrush in humans - is systemic to you dont need it to come into contact. You can buy a single (human) dose fluconazole capsule (50mg) over the counter of any pharmacy without a prescription (make sure its a capsule with powder in, not one of the suppositories or other treatments you can get) but the tablets I had were 200mg each so better value but require a prescription. I open the capsule, dissolve the powder in water and then dribble onto their beak.
The dose is generally 10mg/kg so depending upon how heavy your chook is you may need a few capsules so it would be worth asking the vet you saw to write a script for the 200mg capsules as it will be cheaper in the long run. You also tend to loose a lot of the meds as the girls wont want to take anything into their tummy as its so swollen and sore (getting rid of the burps first helps with this) and so you may actully only get half of your dose into them so the meds dont go as far as you think they will!
I've currently got 2 girls with it and am dosing them at a higher rate than 10mg/kg as its being persistent and wont go. Getting better but still there. Fluconazole is one of the safer anti-fungals and can be taken safely at higher doses (by humans anyway) - for eg the dose for human thrush is a one-off dose of 50mg, but if you have persistant thrush or a chronic skin infection causes by candida, the dose is 200mg for up to many months! So I figure increasing the dose wont hurt where it is being persistent; and given that your girls will likely flick a lot of their meds off their beak rather than swallowing it, you can't actually be that accurate with the dose anyway - you may put in your syringe enough liquid for their full dose but did they flick away half of it or just 1/3 ?? How much did they actually swallow?? You just have to guestimate and given them more to make sure they get their full dose - err on the side of giving more not less.
Its pretty painful administering meds to a chook!
BTW dont apologise for caring about your chooks. It breaks my heart that so many people dont and just let 'nature take its course' when they wouldnt dream of doing the same for their dog or kids. Any animal you bring into your life should receive the best medical care you can provide. Ive been sleeping with the girls in my bed (hubby is in the spare room, lots of towels down!) for the last few nights, either holding their crop flat with my hand to expel the gas as soon as it is created and supporting their head to stop it drooping, or having them resting on a pilow to achieve the same thing. They look and behave fine during the day (apart from only nibbling food, not actually eating properly) and so someone not paying attention wouldnt know they have it; but at night one of them spends the entire night doing this awful hiccup / cough / sneeze thing trying to get gas out: everytime she starts to fall asleep and her head droops it trigger it so she hasnt slept properly in a couple of weeks poor thing. Hence the crop-squashing head-supporting bedtime now!
