Sour Crop, Worms, or Pendulous Crop?

[Justin0271]

I currently have a hen inside in isolation. I brought her in for sour crop, and the infection doesn't seem to want to go away. At this point, she's been inside for a while and after putting her on yoghurt for three days after a two day fast, there was still just the smallest bit of something in her crop. I've given her some feed today and am going to put her on a three day fast and another three days of yoghurt.

The thing is, of all the hens, she always has a messy bottom. What's more is that even while she's inside and given solid food, her poop is always wet, runny, and has a large amount of water (pure moisture that absolutely soaks the newspaper in her cage). We inherited a flock when we moved into our current house two years ago, and on thinking about it, since I've learnt to pay attention to them more closely, I don't think I've ever seen her have a solid poop, it's always been runny, or liquid.

She's not lethargic, in fact, she's one of the first to come running for food, even when she had pretty bad sour crop, I'm pretty sure she was still dust bathing regularly, had no problem getting up on to the roost at night, and was somewhere near the middle of the pecking orded (tied for second among our six girls).

I'm starting to think perhaps the sour crop and possible pendulous crop (although it seems to shrink down even from it's resting droop, which is very slight, the longer she's fasted) might just be symptoms of something wrong with her gut, possibly worms? please help.

I have no idea how old any of our chickens are, and my best guess as to breed is that she's either a grey australorp or grey buff orpington. She seems too big to be a regular grey orpington.

(NB: Where we are it's currently molting season and all the girls, including her are molting. They mostly have a mild molt, where the bulk of their feathers noticibly drops, but there's usually not a razorback situation, let alone total baldness, she seems to be handling it well.)

Edit: For clarity, when she has fasted her crop will shrink, normally mostly empty by the second day, but then there's this little bit that won't go down, it feels like there's either a little bit of sludge in her crop, or the skin is loose over the top of the crop and the crop itself is a little pendulous. I can't tell if I'm imagining it, but it feels and looks like as the fasting progresses on the third day, and on the morning of the fourth the crop continues to shrink, but much more slowly, and if I massage it it's liable to become a little looser than is was.

 

[Mountain Roost]

Fasting is good. If the yogurt is not giving results I would stick with a light dry food diet in between the fasting. Sour crop is caused by a fungus, Candida albicans. Research oregano and oregano oil. It is great for this type of problem. It is very strong and you only need tiny amounts, especially for a single bird. Definitely mix it with the food or water, do not give it straight.

Her crop may end up being slightly stretched out after having been overfull.

Most of my experience with sour crop is with meat birds. But they are very different! You usually find them full of undigested watery food that can be massaged out in small amounts and then the bird gets no food, just water, for a few days. Then food is returned in small amounts to see if they are digesting it or if there is something stuck and not allowing food through.

With the watery poo and messy bottom your henly sounds like she has a kickin' candida infection and would benefit from a round of dried oregano or drops of oregano oil. Like I said the oil is strong, use very small amounts mixed with food or water. But it works.

Hope she feels better soon!