Sour crop?

sweetsilkies

In the Brooder
Jul 30, 2017
12
10
44
My almost six month old silkie hen has been looking a bit sorry for herself, she hasn't eat a thing for two days now and I haven't seen her drink anything for a day. Initially I thought she may be egg bound as she's very small and due to lay any time soon, so I let her soak in some warm water. I couldn't feel an egg though. On Thursday she drank a LOT more than usual. I felt her crop and it's really squidgy — feels like it's full of water. I did some research and it seemed to point to sour crop, so I've been massaging it and took her food away, but it won't come out. I don't want to tip her upside down and make her be sick, as I've read some frightening stories. She's also been passing blood and not much faecal matter (coccidiosis?) I took her to the vets for a second opinion but unfortunately he said he doesn't get many chickens and doesn't know much about them but he examined her anyway. He weighed her, looked inside her beak, felt her crop, took her temperature which he said was quite high and felt around her cloaca in case she was egg bound, which he said she wasn't. He gave her an anti-inflammatory and some antibiotics and I've bought some probiotics and coccidiosis treatment. I need some advise please on what to do or if I'm doing anything wrong, as I've never dealt with any of these problems before. This particular hen means the world to me, I can't lose her:hit
 
To me this sounds most like coccidiosis.
2 of my young hens got it a few weeks ago, they had the exact same symptoms you're talking about. I took mine to a professional bird vet and were diagnosed with it. This is what I learnt: coccidiosis is diagnosed by looking at the droppings under a microscope, the bug is shed through the droppings.
The coccidiosis bug is everywhere in every soil so it is completely normal for all chickens to have a small amount of coccidiosis in their gut, it is when the bird gets over run with the bug thats when it's an issue and needs treatment, birds are most susceptible to the bug when they are either young, molting or going through a stressful time like being introduced to a new flock. (My 2 girls were going through all 3 of these)
The blood in the droppings is because the intestines are inflamed from the cocidia bug, completely normal symptom of coccidiosis.
The squishy weird crop is because when sick with coccidiosis the digesting slows down, I was worried this would give my 2 girls sour crop too because their crops didn't emptied for 4 nights in a row, I asked the vet if I should stop them from eating but she said to let the birds eat as much as they want because they Need strength to fight off this bug. So I let them eat as much as they wanted. When their little bodies started responding to the medication their digesting sped up and they didn't get sour crop. So keep encouraging your chook to eat, tempt her with things like oats, hard boiled egg, spinach etc if she isn't interested in the regular food. Provide plenty of fresh water.
Make sure to keep her warm and keep up the crop massages, that's what i did too. My 2 girls didn't eat or drink anything for 2 days and their crop stayed the same yet they have made a complete recovery so don't give up hope!
Also if she isn't already, it would be best to separate her from any others in the flock.
The medications the bird vet gave me and instructions were:
1. A broad spectrum antibiotic (half a tablet, twice a day for about 10 days) this sounds much the same to what the vet gave you.
2. A medicine to kill the coccidiosis called Toltazurol (0.14ml once a day for 3 days and then repeat in 3weeks) also would be much the same to the medication you bought for coccidiosis.
3. A medicine called Coccivet for the rest of my flock who weren't showing any symptoms but just incase to prevent an outbreak
(1.5ml per litre of drinking water for 3 days) this probably isn't necessary for you.
I really hope I've been able to help xo let us know how she goes
 
To me this sounds most like coccidiosis.
2 of my young hens got it a few weeks ago, they had the exact same symptoms you're talking about. I took mine to a professional bird vet and were diagnosed with it. This is what I learnt: coccidiosis is diagnosed by looking at the droppings under a microscope, the bug is shed through the droppings.
The coccidiosis bug is everywhere in every soil so it is completely normal for all chickens to have a small amount of coccidiosis in their gut, it is when the bird gets over run with the bug thats when it's an issue and needs treatment, birds are most susceptible to the bug when they are either young, molting or going through a stressful time like being introduced to a new flock. (My 2 girls were going through all 3 of these)
The blood in the droppings is because the intestines are inflamed from the cocidia bug, completely normal symptom of coccidiosis.
The squishy weird crop is because when sick with coccidiosis the digesting slows down, I was worried this would give my 2 girls sour crop too because their crops didn't emptied for 4 nights in a row, I asked the vet if I should stop them from eating but she said to let the birds eat as much as they want because they Need strength to fight off this bug. So I let them eat as much as they wanted. When their little bodies started responding to the medication their digesting sped up and they didn't get sour crop. So keep encouraging your chook to eat, tempt her with things like oats, hard boiled egg, spinach etc if she isn't interested in the regular food. Provide plenty of fresh water.
Make sure to keep her warm and keep up the crop massages, that's what i did too. My 2 girls didn't eat or drink anything for 2 days and their crop stayed the same yet they have made a complete recovery so don't give up hope!
Also if she isn't already, it would be best to separate her from any others in the flock.
The medications the bird vet gave me and instructions were:
1. A broad spectrum antibiotic (half a tablet, twice a day for about 10 days) this sounds much the same to what the vet gave you.
2. A medicine to kill the coccidiosis called Toltazurol (0.14ml once a day for 3 days and then repeat in 3weeks) also would be much the same to the medication you bought for coccidiosis.
3. A medicine called Coccivet for the rest of my flock who weren't showing any symptoms but just incase to prevent an outbreak
(1.5ml per litre of drinking water for 3 days) this probably isn't necessary for you.
I really hope I've been able to help xo let us know how she goes


Thanks so much everyone for the helpful responses. I did take some pictures of the blood yesterday to show to the vet, so I'll attach them in a bit. I did get a new hen towards the end of December, so that could be a factor. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any avian vets anywhere near me - they all just specialise in cats and dogs. The one I went to yesterday claimed to help 'birds of every feather', but he didn't know much about chickens and said he's never had one come in so I'm a bit wary. He gave her one dose of a long-lasting antibiotic injection when we went yesterday - will that be sufficient? The coccidiosis treatment I got her is a liquid treatment that goes in her water - is this enough to treat it or should I get some other medicine too? I'll give her some scrambled egg today - I did put some pellets in there with her, but she's not interested in them just yet. She's got some apple cider vinegar water in there too of course. I've separated her from the rest and will put the treatment in their water too, as you did with yours. Fingers crossed it works out :fl
 
Here are the pictures, as promised

IMG_0969.JPG


IMG_0966.JPG


IMG_0967.JPG
 
Update:

I gave her some raw egg yesterday which she seemed to enjoy, as well as probiotics and her anti inflammatory the vet prescribed. I also put the coccidiosis treatment in her water and in the other silkies water too. Is there anything else I should be doing? I was giving her a fuss yesterday after she had her medicine and she climbed up to my shoulder. Afterwards I noticed she pooped on me and it looked like a good one to me - didn't seem to be any blood in there. She's also done some poops in her old brooder box I'm keeping her in that don't seem to have any blood in. She seems a bit better in herself this morning - she’s been eating some layers mash with an egg yolk mixed in, drinking her treated water, scratching about, wiping her beak on the floor…:D
 
She sounds like a tough little cookie :) I'm glad to here it sounds like she's improving. You're doing a great job nursing her back to health
 
Cocci is horrible. Most hens suffer worst the first time then normally it's not so bad. You doing well. keep on top of it. Use a good disinfectant that kills all virus and bacteria, that is safe for use around animals when you clean out the run and coop.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom