Sour crop

[Sunflowergirl]

Wondering how Bombie is doing?

 

[shell3]

Hi sunflower girl, bombies much better today, no fluid in her crop, I felt a hard mass in there last night but wasn't sure if it was normal food feel or something sinister so checked this morning and it was still there so I massaged the crop and withheld food for one hour and thankfully it was gone so just food thank god. She did sneeze a few times thou so I've started her on the metronidazole that the vet gave and the anti fungal just to cover all bases as I'm worried after her spluttering episode before that she could be at risk of developing a respitory infection, I'm giving her the nutrient solution in her water but she doesn't seem to like it much so I'm stringing 5 mls into the side of her mouth every couple of hours. Also still giving the canesten but might stop that tomorrow as now giving anti fungal meds but I haven't decided yet. She seems happier stronger and a lot better she's fighting to get out of the cage and although I let her have a run around in my bedroom I'm keeping her in for prob another week till she's hopefully all better. But for now it's looking good xxx

 

[shell3]

Should have been syringing not stringing! Bloody I pad! Lol

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Glad to hear it all! Yes, I think the massaging of the crop helps!

 

[PeachesLaRue]

I have a 'sour crop' situation right now with my 10 month old bantam, Miss Daisy. Two days ago I noticed this girl wasn't running around, but since she was semi-dusting, I kind of blew it off. Then yesterday I was changing food and water and she walked slowly over to the dish but didn't drink and it look like she wanted to, at that point I thought her chest looked bloated. Something was not right, so I picked her up and woosh ... all kinds of gooshy nasty smelling milky watery stuff came pouring out. I immediately separated her from the rest of the flock into her own cage. I went online to our fine chicken forum here and then also googled as many sites as possible to cross check options for potential 'sour crop' or perhaps 'grass impacted crop'. Sooooo ... I got organized and once ready, I tipped her forward for a few seconds and more foul smelling liquid came out, with some small bits of grass and dirt mixed in. I let her rest for a few minutes and then gave her a few eyedroppers of clear cool water, which she could hardly wait to get!! About an hour later I tipped her again and once again and a lot more fluid came out. I let her rest for an hour and then gave her more eyedroppers of plain cool water, and I had a separate small dish with watered down plain Greek Yogurt (with all the good bacteria in it - I'll try to get her flaura and fauna back in order)). She loved that too. I put a blanket over the cage to keep her warm for the night. Today I repeated the process, only I did not vomit her, I just have stroked her crop several times, made sure she has had many eyedroppers of water, and this time I have given her the Greek yogurt with 1 capsule of Vegetarian Digest Enzymes (no sugar in it, no salt, no yeast, no wheat, or gluten, no corn, no preservatives, and no artificial flavors or colors, no zinc or other metals) which I opened the capsule and mixed the enzyme powder into it. I was able to get several eyedroppers of that into her and she looked like she has perked up a bit. I still think the situation is very very serious, but I feel better that she seems to not be uncomfortable when I massage the crop and that she really wants and needs to get those droppers of fluid inside. The one really weird thing I could feel when I gently massaged her crop was that it seems to have sand or something in there, just grains but that I can feel, but that's what I thought a crop was all about. As I massaged the crop, the 'balloon' seemed to deflate quite a bit. Will keep you posted ... tonight I am going to get some blueberry juice, some unsweetened applesauce, fresh squeezed papaya juice, and fresh garlic cloves to add to her menu for now. I'll keep working with her and see if this can be conquered, having only had chickens for a bit over a year now, I still had never encountered this one, but I see from the number of posts on the net that it is unusual, but not uncommon. So we'll see where we are at tomorrow and see how she is doing. Aye. Aye. Aye.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

So you are feeling a hard mass in there? One that does not ever go down? Do you think it is block her crop and preventing food passage? Is she losing weight?

 

[PeachesLaRue]

She did not look like she had lost any weight ... in fact, except for the 'sour crop' or crop binding, she looked actually healthy (well, except for the distended balloon crop). And ... I did not feel a mass in there, but I could feel the gravel bits, so I was as gentle as I could possibly be. Alas, I have to report that barely two hours after my posting I went out to check on her and maybe either vomit her again (if necessary) or give her more fluids ... but she had died.

That was my first experience with this kind of situation. I had also lined up a well blended mixture of prickly pear cactus capsule (opened - 500 mg) with an added capsule of odorless garlic oil (300 mg) and barely 1 drop of Health Food store grade edible oregano oil, all mixed into greek yogurt and watered down. That was going to be her next infusion. The prickly pear has plenty of good vitamins in it and is an anti-inflammatory, the garlic and oregano have anti-fungal properties. The oregano oil is very strong, so just a drop is more than enough once it's mixed in with everything else. But ... didn't get that far. Too bad, she was a funny and fun little bird, our family and especially her flock will miss her.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Sorry to hear about your loss PeachesLaRue!

 

[shell3]

Id just like to update on how bombies doing,she seems back to her normal self ill be keeping a close eye on her for a while but shes back outside with her sistersnow.eating drinking poooping normally.crop feels good so im hopeful shes making a full recovery. Shes back to her normal chickeny mischief lol thanks for all the support especially sunflower girl who in sharing her experience led me to the cure. Im sure the canesten was what saved her.
Peaches la rue: im so sorry for your loss. Its heartbreaking and ill be thinking of you x

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I'm so glad to hear she is doing well!