Sour crop with black/green vomit

[JensChickies]

Hello BYC. I have a 10yo hen that has sour crop. Been treating with monostat 7 2x day for 3 days so far. No improvement. Her vomit was a putrid nasty smell and I was black or dark dark green in color. Super odd. She wants to eat, but I won't let her. I have been giving subcutaneous fluids to try and get her back to hydrated, but I am afraid his might be it for her. Has anybody experienced sour crop with practically black liquid coming out??? I have not.

I have read a on of articles on here about crops, and have only found one with black liquid and no follow up from the original poster.

 

[Eggcessive]

When I have seen bad sour or impacted crop like that, I have never seen one recover. They lose weight and literally starve because the food won’t go through.Usually, there is some underlying issue such as cancer, salpingitis/egg yolk peritonitis, water belly, or worms that is causing the digestive tract to slow way down. The black material may be rotten food or material. Have you tried chilled coconut oil offered in small chunks followed by crop massage 3-4 times a day? Monistat or miconazole cream or suppositories given orally can help. Acidified copper sulfate 1/4 tsp per gallon of water is also sometimes used for several days. Let us know how she gets along. Here is a good article on crops:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[JensChickies]

When I have seen bad sour or impacted crop like that, I have never seen one recover. They lose weight and literally starve because the food won’t go through.Usually, there is some underlying issue such as cancer, salpingitis/egg yolk peritonitis, water belly, or worms that is causing the digestive tract to slow way down. The black material may be rotten food or material. Have you tried chilled coconut oil offered in small chunks followed by crop massage 3-4 times a day? Monistat or miconazole cream or suppositories given orally can help. Acidified copper sulfate 1/4 tsp per gallon of water is also sometimes used for several days. Let us know how she gets along. Here is a good article on crops:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thank you for the reply. I am doing monistst, but her crop I'd pretty unresponsive. I have been tubing water to see if it responds over night, but it has not. I kind of figured that this was secondary to some underlying issue given her age. I have dealt with sour crop before, but nothing like this.
Thank you for tour response. I'm going to give her a couple more days before I make the call.

 

[Eggcessive]

I started doing a home necropsy on hens I lose years ago, just to take a look at the organs and see if I could tell what might have been going on with them. It really was hard at first, even though I had a medical background, but it was very enlightening. I noted yellow ascites fluid from water belly occasionally, found a cancer growing once, saw lash egg material once, an impacted non-functioning gizzard, had one cause of fatty liver hemorrhagic disease evidenced by a tan liver and a huge blood clot, plus tons of fat, and fluid filled cysts one time. If you do a home necropsy, take picture ps of major organs for opinions. Your state vet can do a much more thorough one when you need to know what was going on if there is something contagious. Here is a good necropsy video that identifies organs, but I do a much more brief limited one at home:

 

[JensChickies]

I started doing a home necropsy on hens I lose years ago, just to take a look at the organs and see if I could tell what might have been going on with them. It really was hard at first, even though I had a medical background, but it was very enlightening. I noted yellow ascites fluid from water belly occasionally, found a cancer growing once, saw lash egg material once, an impacted non-functioning gizzard, had one cause of fatty liver hemorrhagic disease evidenced by a tan liver and a huge blood clot, plus tons of fat, and fluid filled cysts one time. If you do a home necropsy, take picture ps of major organs for opinions. Your state vet can do a much more thorough one when you need to know what was going on if there is something contagious. Here is a good necropsy video that identifies organs, but I do a much more brief limited one at home:

Thank you. After many years of having chickens, I have accepted that they just die and I can't always find out why. I normally just lay them to rest. I could send them out, but I feel it's better just to lay them to rest out of respect for them. I used to want to know why lol!

 

[JensChickies]

Ok. Well she is still alive. I was out of town for the weekend. Before I left, I loaded her up subcutaneous fluids, monistat, and I threw in baytril. I know that's a no no, but it was my last hail mary for her. Came back into town today and flushed, vomited her, Subq fluids, monistat and baytril. Her vomit was not nasty putrid smelling and it was clear (not black). I was pleasantly surprised. Tubed water and hopefully it will empty. Still very guarded with her, but the black vomit and smell is gone. That smell was so nasty, not just normal sour crop, so I am glad it's gone.

 

[JensChickies]

Ok. She is still here and seems to be improving! Her crop is emptying now, which is a huge improvement. For the next person who stumbles upon this thread trying to find answers, let me help.
What I did to keep her going.
Subcutaneous fluids, crop washes with epsom salt (google crop wash for chickens), vomiting her and then treating her with monistate. I treated with monistat 2x a day and gave baytril 1x a day. By the time the smell and black vomit went away, I then slowly introduced baby bird food through tube feeding and let her crop empty before doing another. I did not indroduce food until I felt confident that she was hydrated. I will slowly be doing less subcutaneous fluids and going to tube feeding until she gets back on her feet. She is still not out of the woods, but she is improving and I really thought her time with us was over. Anyways, hope this helps with some answers for someone desperately trying to figure out what is going on with their chicken.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad to hear that she is improving. Please give us another update on her condition soon.

 

[JensChickies]

Good morning. Just an update. She is still here. Her crop moves and clears out so i know shes not blocked, but she still adjusts her head/crop like there is somthing stuck in there. I tube her water, probiotics, and vitamins along with some food about once a day. She's not eating very much so that tells me some other pathology is happening. She has been wormed and all the things. Pendulous crop has crossed my mind so I got her crop bra. She still does the head/crop adjustment movement when it's on. She still has quality in her life at this point so it's not her time yet. Anyways, I will keep updating for future readers.

 

[JensChickies]

Hello everyone, just an update. My sweet hen passed almost a couple of weeks ago. My guess is from cancer or some type of organ failure, but she was comfortable up to the end. Thank you everyone for all your advise, she had a wonderful 10 years and was loved.