Sour crop

[TwoCrows]

I think the vet found bacteria and yeast in the crop.

There is always bacteria in a yeasty crop. Add antibiotics to yeast and they bloom.

 

[casportpony]

There is always bacteria in a yeasty crop. Add antibiotics to yeast and they bloom.

I think the hen also has a respiratory infection?

 

[TwoCrows]

I think the hen also has a respiratory infection?

If a bird has both a bacterial infection and a crop yeast infection, the yeast infection needs to be dealt with first. You can't use an antibiotic on a yeast infection as it causes it to explode. On the other hand, fungal meds will not cause bacteria to grow further.

In this case, which issue is most serious. If the crop isn't moving properly, meds aren't going to get to where they need to be, the bird is not taking in enough sustenance, hence losing weight, dehydrating, since nothing moves fast enough through the intestinal tract. So I would think the yeasty crop needs to be dealt with first.

 

[casportpony]

I think the fluid is clearing the crop now?

 

[TwoCrows]

She mentioned in her last post here (see below) that the crop has gone from soft and squishy to hard and stiff. This worries me because soft turning hard is the start of a doughy crop no doubt from the addition of antibiotics. Hopefully it's just a fluke symptom and has disappeared this morning. Crops go up and down all day long, it's what they feel like in the morning gives you the best ability to diagnose a crop.

Things are somewhat the same today-- her crop is MUCH less water balloony and much harder, so it seems to have gone from sour crop to an impacted crop (for better or for worse, I suppose). She's happily eating an egg every night, which I've put her meds and some olive oil in, and I gave her a bowl of water since she drinks much more from that than a drinker nipple (even though she'll inevitably flip it over eventually...sigh). I've been massaging her crop a few times daily, and it does seem to be going down a bit. She's also having more and more substantive poops rather than all liquid, so it seems like SOMETHING is getting through?

 

[casportpony]

I guess what I was trying to say was that since the fluid is clearing the crop, so are the medications? So why not treat the bacteria and yeast at the same time?

Something else to consider is the cause of the yeast and bacteria? What caused the crop stasis in the first place?

 

[TwoCrows]

Fluids and solids do move through a yeasty crop but at very slow rates. Yeast consume precious food and water in the crop, antibiotics cause more yeasty growth.

 

[JacksonPearce]

Hello all! She is looking MUCH better today and has had two very normal bowel movements earlier. Massaging her crop also seems to help a lot. She is OVER eating hard boiled eggs and wants the grower pellets her fellow sick hen is getting. :-D Her crop isnt squishy, but isn't nearly as hard as it was yesterday. It actually would feel like a normal crop if not for the size, which is still medium-large.

As far as the antibiotics feeding the yeast infection-- I know they do, but the vet recommended both at once, and it seems to be working! I think perhaps there's just no one perfect way to medicate in this situation.

 

[JacksonPearce]

I think the vet found bacteria and yeast in the crop.

Correct!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

The compound you’re creating should help. A lot of pharmacies can compound topical for a multifaceted skin problem. Makes sense that he’s hitting this with a double double. But TwoCrows is right on that. Most yeast infections women get are after antibiotic use and stress situations. It will be important to get in probiotics after the antibiotics are done. Blue ribbon poultry powder.