Sour Crop Won't Go Away

[Photolady]

This is my first year with chickens so I am really new at this.

I have what is supposed to be a BLRW, (she's larger than all my other birds by a lot and we wondered for a bit if she was a rooster). I got her at a couple days old on mothers day in May.

I noticed her crop was swollen on September 26th. Took her off food for 24 hours, started her on ACV and monostat and got it down so it felt like grit in her crop. Massaged her, gave her olive oil and she cleared after about 2-3 days. So i let her eat and she swelled right back up. Kept up with the monastat once a day, gave her yogurt and oatmeal and it came down again. But then it just swelled back up and for the life of me I can't keep it down.

I massage her, but nothing comes up (maybe I'm not doing it right). I found a youtube video with a spices/baking soda/lemon mix and we tried that (a little bit anyway, she fights me so hard). We are keeping them all on the ACV now but nothing seems to work long term. I'm at a bit of a loss now. She's eating, and it's passing through, but that crop is just always swollen. It's not thick or full, but more like a dense gas if that makes any sense.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Pyxis]

Sorry you're having trouble. What are you feeding her as her main diet? Is there a chance she may actually have a blockage, such as long grass or maybe she ate some twine, etc?

 

[Photolady]

Sorry you're having trouble. What are you feeding her as her main diet? Is there a chance she may actually have a blockage, such as long grass or maybe she ate some twine, etc?

I'm feeding an 18% chicken crumble from IFA, occasionally some scratch and mealworms as treats. She usually gets to range, but I haven't been letting her since this started so I can control what she is eating. I think the initial sour crop was from blockage, but I've worked it out and I can feel her empty crop when she isn't swollen.

 

[Pyxis]

It sounds like her diet is okay. Does she ever get a foul smell from her mouth? When her crop is large now, does it go down overnight if she is left without food, or does it stay up and not go down without your intervention?

 

[Photolady]

It sounds like her diet is okay. Does she ever get a foul smell from her mouth? When her crop is large now, does it go down overnight if she is left without food, or does it stay up and not go down without your intervention?

It goes down some, but not completely. It doesn't help that she gorges herself with access to food. With intervention I can get it all the way down, but I can't be babysitting her constantly. It's just not fair to either of us. (She does not like the attention at all.) Sometimes when I'm massaging her, I get a whiff, but I'm not sure if it's from her, it's not constant.