Sour Crop?? Watery, gassy, pendulous crop

[PBAndAlice]

Hi BYC. I don't use forums often so I apologize in advance if I'm doing anything wrong.

SBC ("scared black chicken" - name courtesy of my cousin) is a black sex link hen, ~6yrs old, weight unknown but she currently feels lighter than she usually is. She has had a pendulous crop since we got her from my cousin's flock 2 years ago. Lately her crop has been huge and I didn't think it'd been emptying overnight. I felt it yesterday and it was like a water balloon with a little bit of food in the bottom, which isntantly made me think it was sour crop. I tried emptying it and she "threw up" a watery gray stuff with pieces of food, no bad smell but still really gross. Didn't empty it fully cause it was clearly stressing her. So I withheld food for the night and fashioned a "crop bra" out of a face mask and paper towels. It was near empty in the morning so I guess the bra worked lol.
This afternoon she had a very little bit of something in the crop, not hard like an impaction but not watery like a balloon. I think she found some pellets leftover in the hen house. I decided to give her some apple cider vinegar to kill the infection, which is probably where I went wrong. I syringed it into the side of her beak, only got about a tablespoon in. She started "burping"? (her crop felt "gassy" then the gas bubbles came out of her crop and they smelled). Is that normal with sour crop, is it because I gave her the ACV, or is it something else? Also any advice in general to know if this is sour crop or not, how to treat her properly, etc?
Other info: I have 2 other chickens (Cookie and Creme), Easter Egger hens 1.5 yrs old. They aren't exhibiting any similar symptoms. Haven't separated SBC from the other two yet (probably planning on it) so I'm not sure how her poop looks and I haven't been able to monitor her eating, drinking, and pooping habits bc of school and a family emergency. She hasn't been laying though. I'm hoping to treat this on my own as we can't afford vet bills right now + I'm not sure if there's a chicken vet nearby. I don't have pictures yet but I can get some soon. Sorry for writing a lot I just like to give full info and also I'm nervous. Lol
(Pic below is all I have rn, it's her after the emptying and before I put on the crop bra)

 

[PBAndAlice]

Here's her in the crop bra, made from an old N95 stuffed with paper towels. I don't wanna take it off right now to get a picture but when it's off, her crop usually falls where the light blue is on the second pic. I might be slightly overestimating but it went very low. It's really noticeably saggy.
And yes I know I should have treated this earlier, before the crop went sour. I apologize for not doing so, I just (wrongly) assumed it wouldn't be that much of a problem.

 

[PBAndAlice]

Not sure if replying to this bumps it or something buuuut... tomorrow I'm gonna let her eat a bit because the crop bra is working, her crop is emptying - and I don't want her to *not* eat for too long. Should I give more ACV? Should I leave it and see what happens? I'm a bit lost honestly because every source seems to have sorta mixed answers lol.

Tonight's update BTW: no fluid build up, no smell, and crop is near flat, a bit of food in it again though (bc the other girls made a mess when I fed them, and she ate the leftovers off the ground). I don't know if that means it's already cleared, if it wasn't even infected in the first place, or it's just laying in waiting.... Guess we'll just wait and see. I'll update in the morning

 

[Eggcessive]

@azygous @coach723 and others are better at treating crop issues. Your chicken needs some food, such as watery feed, egg, yogurt and water, even if her crop is not working well. Antifungal creams (Monistat, miconazole) or Nystatin (Medistatin found online) are common ones. Here is a good article for help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[azygous]

First of all, I do not recommend withholding food from any chicken. It's been my experience, barring a disorder such as pica, a chicken will self regulate what they consume when they have a crop issue. A sour crop victim will stop eating, so will an impacted crop victim, but they will drink a lot of water to try to dissolve the impaction.

ACV increases the acid in the crop. This is not desirable with sour crop. It will make it all the more uncomfortable. ACV is really over hyped. It is not the cure and preventative people expect of it. I feed fermented feed and do not use ACV at all.

There is nothing wrong with using a splash in the chicken waterers, but when a chicken has a crop issue, it's best to offer only plain, fresh water.

 

[coach723]

If it is only pendulous crop, then the crop bra should help the crop empty by supporting it in a more normal position. The question is why the crop became pendulous. Whether this has another underlying cause or not. Something that slows digestion could cause the crop to become pendulous over time. Once a crop becomes pendulous it usually remains that way, the muscle often does not return to normal, so the crop bra may be a permanent fixture for this bird. You need to check fit regularly, and check for irritation, rubbing, or even mites under the bra. I had a bird live for a couple of years in a crop bra, she eventually passed from a reproductive problem. I would only feed water soluble foods, nothing hard to digest, nothing fiberous, and monitor to see how she does, if the crop continues to empty fairly normally, or if there is still some slowing. If it's emptying, then you should not have sour crop to deal with.

 

[Lor]

Curious to know how well the mask worked as a bra. How did you put it on?