Sour crop?

[jburd]

Last night I closed up the coop and did a head-count like I always do. This time 1 bird was missing! One of the young roo's found her under the roosts and chased her out. I could immediately tell that something was not right. She was cold and lethargic so I brought her in the house and gave her about 1ml of Nutridrench for poultry. She perked up and then started to drink water . . . and drink, and drink, and drink!! She drank almost 3 cups of water in one sitting! Soon after she finished drinking I offered her some of her layer mash and when she bent down to eat a lot of mucus came pouring out of her mouth. This morning she looked quite a bit worse, so I took her to the vet where they took an x-ray and found that her crop was quite engorged with food and water, but that there were no foreign bodies or obvious obstructions. Her lungs and sinuses are clear, her condition is good, but she is refusing all food now and she still drinks like there is no tomorrow. She is a semi-free range pullet (ranges in a large fenced-in pen with 11 of her peers). She also tested negative for parasites, has constant access to water, food, grit, and oyster shell, and she has not begun to lay yet (at 21 weeks old).

The doctor prescribed Naxel injections for 10 days and an oral anti-inflammatory. While I was giving her the injection she vomited up about 80ml of fluid and food from her crop. I can still feel fluid and debris in her crop, so she did not expel the entire contents.

Has anyone come across this before? I'm much more familiar with upper respiratory problems in chickens than GI problems so I would love to hear anyone's experiences! Thanks!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Sorry I cannot help but I can wish you luck and give you a bump good luck!

 

[soler]

it sounds like sour/impacted crop - i think this link is very helpful:

exolains the difference between pendulous, impacted and sour, and what to do to help
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/search/label/crop impacted sour and pendulous

I hope this helps! best of luck!

 

[jburd]

Extremely helpful, Soler! Thank you!

I galvaged her crop today and she had tons of fluid and food in there (her layer mash, scratch grain, grit, and some feathers), but could not clear all the contents. Hopefully she can take care of the rest herself with a little mineral oil and rest.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I have done crop surgery before if the mass does not resolve itself and you run out of options. Feel free to PM me.