Sour crop

[Rhcecil]

This hen has had a buldging crop looks like for the past few days. I’m guessing it’s sour crop and I have tried doing the burping, apple cider vinegar water and probiotic yogurt (which is what’s all over her face). But still seems huge. She seems to be eating and drinking just fine and runs around. Any ideas what I can do to help relieve the swollen crop.

 

[azygous]

Do you feel any lumpiness, any solid material? If not, then coconut oil isn't going to be necessary.

A spongy crop, sort of like a water balloon, usually indicates a yeast infection - sour crop. It doesn't always smell like a sour sponge or sauerkraut.

The treatment is an anti-yeast med such as miconazole. You can easily find it in the womens' hygiene products in the store. Get the cream. It's more economical. You'll be dosing the patient with half an inch of cream from the tube once in the morning and once again in the late afternoon. You must do this twice a day for a ful seven days. Or you can buy this. https://www.jedds.com/shop/medistatin/ It's a powder and can be mixed with a bit of food.

Meanwhile, don't feed any starching foods or carbs. Dry crumbles is okay and boiled egg and yogurt. Probiotic is also good to help restore the good microbes in her crop and intestines.

 

[azygous]

I think you'd probably benefit from reading my article once more. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/ It shows how to make a crop bra, easy, no sewing. And treating with miconazole anti-yeast cream is the same thing as treating your own athlete's foot with a medicated ointment which has a very similar ingredient to women's yeast cream. There is no danger, and it could save your hen's life since yeast can continue to multiply until your hen can no longer process nutrients and starves to death.

 

[Cryss]

I wish I had a chicken expert live near me that could just look at her. I hate to give her anything if she doesn’t have the sour crop and hurt her worse. An I don’t have one of those crop bra thingys either.

Where are you? Add it to your profile, it will help with so many questions you may ask over time.

If you decide to try a crop bra, I found a couple of threads that have pictures of bra made from Vet Wrap.

• https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-made-a-vetwrap-chicken-bra.1249489/
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pendulous-crop-but-otherwise-seems-healthy.808714/

That vetwrap link is me. I REALLY need to make it a better article with pictures.

@azygous saved my Roopecca! Chickens hide the fact they are sick often right up until they die! Don't put off treating them. Roopecca didn't smell sour but when he threw up I knew it was sour crop. I used @azygous instructions, gave the medication faithfully, it cleared right up. It came back a couple weeks later so I did it again, this time with a bra. He wears a bra all the time now, never needs a treatment.
The medicine as suppository is easy to cut into appropriate doses and put inside the beak but the re- agent enough so you use the cream to complete the round of medication. For that I mix the dose into a very very small amount of treat or mash into hard boiled egg. I put it in a deep bowl so it can't be scattered and I make sure they get it all in by feeding them away from the flock and I even hold the bowl. I scrape it down into a pile when it starts to get low just to make sure they get it all. Seriously, it saved my rooster's life.

 

[Mimi13]

@Rhcecil, pay careful attention to everything @azygous posts. She will guide you to reclaiming health for your hen. It wasn’t too many months ago I thought my girl was slowly on her way out. Everything seemed fine with her except that huge, hard crop. After an unsuccessful trip to the vet with my Gabby, Carol led me step by step to having Gabby back with the flock and in much better health. Her crop was back to normal. Good luck.

 

[Mimi13]

@Rhcecil, in case you would like to read about another chicken that had a full, rock hard crop in the morning that is now going strong, read this thread. And I will have to say, if it weren’t for @azygous, I seriously doubt if my Gabby would be here today...right in the middle of her very first annual molt.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hard-crop-not-clearing.1313179/

 

[Rhcecil]

I just started the cream process. All I had to do was put it on my finger and she ate it up. Just got done boiling eggs and gonna give her one.

 

[Mimi13]

I just started the cream process. All I had to do was put it on my finger and she ate it up. Just got done boiling eggs and gonna give her one.

Yay!!!She is on her way to getting all better. Please make sure to finish out the meds so the “whatever it is” making her sick will be killed out. There! How’s that for layman’s terminology? It’s all I could think of to say. Sometimes my brain completely leaves me.

 

[azygous]

A crop feeling like a balloon is the first reason to suspect a crop disorder.

The next step is to check the crop first thing in the morning to see if it's emptied overnight. A normal crop will be flat and empty. A sick crop will have contents that refuse to go down, sort of like a toilet that won't empty when you flush.

If you find the crop still full before your hen eats or drinks anything, and it is very important not to feed her or let her drink until you check her, try to determine if the contents feel spongy or hard and lumpy. That will determine which crop disorder you will need to treat.

 

[dawg53]

Looks like a pendulous crop. This is what she needs:
http://www.hensaver.com/Crop-Bra.html