Sour crop

[charliegirls]

My gorgeous Gail is 4 years old with suspected sour crop. We keeping her in our house and feeding ground pellets and bio yogurt. Any other advice or treatment please ?

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Is her crop full in the morning? Crops should empty over night and if they don't, something is definitely a miss.

If it is soft and squishy, it is considered slow and possibly sour. Basically a yeast infection is starting in the crop.

If the crop is hard like tennis ball, it is impacted.

They can have impactions further down in the intestines or gizzard with a slow/sour and impacted crop as well.

It is best to vomit out the gunk each morning with a slow crop. (when it is soft and squishy) The food that has been sitting there over night is rotting food and growing more bacteria and yeasts. You don't want that stuff going further on down the tract. So if you feel her crop tomorrow morning and she still has food in it, you will want to take her outside. Hold her like a foot ball in one arm, support her at the crop with the other hand and you are going to lean forward, gently squeezing her crop. Lean her all the way forward, beak down. The MOMENT the gunk starts to come out of her beak, count to 2 and then stand back up. Chickens don't hold their breaths long and can aspirate on this gunk. So 2 seconds only after it starts to come up. Give her a break and do it again. Keep doing this until you can't get anymore out. Only do this in the morning so what ever she eats or drinks during the day has time to get absorbed.

Keep her on a soft diet. Layer feed only and dampen it. Helps to digest it faster. No hard foods or free ranging. You want food to move as fast as possible through her and avoid the use of the gizzard as well.

Yes, keep up with yogurt and or probiotics in the water.

Keep her warm. And keep all this up for about one week. If this is a simple case of sour crop, it should heal over in a weeks time. If something else is causing her to have a sour crop, you will need to address that as well. (worms, infections and even egg binding)

Take a look at this article on crops that will help you understand what is going on...https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Good luck with her and I hope you can get her back on her feet soon. Keep us posted!

 

[emmachickens13]

Is live youghurt the best probiotic or can u recommend something better?

 

[charliegirls]

Thank you so much fingers crossed

 

[TwoCrows]

Plain yogurt with lots of cultures. The Greek yogurt is the best. Get them to eat a couple of tablespoons a day. They can eat it right off the spoon or on eggs or some other food.

I also like to put probiotics in the water. I use a brand especially for birds. But you can use the human probiotics. Same stuff, just more expensive to use the human grade.

The good bacteria in the probiotics help to destroy the yeasts and fungi in the crop and intestines.

 

[charliegirls]

It's day 4 now and I'm pleased to say Gail is doing well. We made her sick first two mornings and feeding ground food and yogurt mix. Seems to be doing the trick she looks like her normal self. Still keeping her inside until she put on a little weight as she lost a lot. I'm writing this with her asleep in her box at the end of my bed. I will be kind of sad when she back with her sisters . We let them visit Gail in the kitchen daily just to keep her part of the group. She desperate to go outside with them but playing safe until the weekend fingers crossed . The advise given on here definitely saved her life. I'm so grateful. Thank you x

 

[TwoCrows]

It's day 4 now and I'm pleased to say Gail is doing well. We made her sick first two mornings and feeding ground food and yogurt mix. Seems to be doing the trick she looks like her normal self. Still keeping her inside until she put on a little weight as she lost a lot. I'm writing this with her asleep in her box at the end of my bed. I will be kind of sad when she back with her sisters . We let them visit Gail in the kitchen daily just to keep her part of the group. She desperate to go outside with them but playing safe until the weekend fingers crossed . The advise given on here definitely saved her life. I'm so grateful. Thank you x

This is great news!! I am happy to hear she is on the mend. Just keep up this program until she can go 2 mornings with an empty crop. Then she can go back out with the crew. Still keep her diet easy for a few days after this. I would add probiotics to the flocks water for all of them.

Be careful mixing her back in however. Even though they have been visiting her in the kitchen, they still may argue with her when you put her back outside. So you might cage her for a day or two in the coop or run with the group so they remember her enough.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[charliegirls]

Thank you I will take your advice. Obviously I am now very weary giving them foods other than their pellets. I was told by the breeder to avoid pasta , bread , rice etc. My girls have enjoyed all sorts of treats but I don't know what to give them now if anything, can you recommend treats that won't harm them ?

 

[TwoCrows]

Thank you I will take your advice. Obviously I am now very weary giving them foods other than their pellets. I was told by the breeder to avoid pasta , bread , rice etc. My girls have enjoyed all sorts of treats but I don't know what to give them now if anything, can you recommend treats that won't harm them ?

If she will eat her chicken feed, then definitely keep her on this feed. I only resort to other food if they go off their feed completely. How is she today? When she can go a couple of mornings with an empty crop, she is good to go on with her regular life. When I say an easy diet, I mean no hard grains and seeds for a while. Nothing that takes a while to digest. Birds coming off slow and sour crops need time to rebuild the good bacteria and enzymes for digestion. So I like to offer up only easy to digest foods for several days after besides their layer feed. Scrambled or hard boiled eggs, warm oatmeal, or warm grits are always a favorite. As is yogurt. Stay away from sweet things like berries, melons and such for a while. These things can cause any remaining yeasts to flare up.