Suspected Sour Crop -- Advice Please

[LunaBlue]

Hello again, chicken friends!

I moved three ~10 week old Black Copper Marans from the grow out cage into the big bird coop on Monday (7/3). Two of the 3 seemed to have distended crops in the afternoons on Tuesday and Wednesday. Their crops felt very full and like a loose water balloon. On both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, their crops were less distended but still felt like they had a lot of fluid in them. They have very smelly, watery poo. But they get up first thing in the mornings and start looking for food. They seem very active and are eager to get treats. I could not detect a yeasty smell from their heads at all.

They have unlimited access to water, layer feed, chick crumble, oyster shells, and about 2 acres of my free-range yard. I feed Nutrena Nature Wise Heathy Hen and the save brand chick crumble. They also get a snack daily, which consists of some compost scraps (carrot greens, tomatoes, bananas, and other misc. veggies), hard boiled eggs, mealworms, or scratch. They all just finished a round of Fenbendazole dewormer on 6/27 and have seemed fine since then. No other birds seem to have this issue.

Today, I put some vinegar in their main water source and gave 1 gallon of Rooster Booster water. Is there anything else I can try to treat this problem?
I have read the pinned article on this issue. I would like to try to treat them less intensively before moving on to treating then with miconazole.

Attached is a picture of the rooster and his poo.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

10 week old

Two of the 3 seemed to have distended crops in the afternoons on Tuesday and Wednesday. Their crops felt very full and like a loose water balloon. On both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, their crops were less distended but still felt like they had a lot of fluid in them. They have very smelly, watery poo. But they get up first thing in the mornings and start looking for food.

They have unlimited access to water, layer feed, chick crumble, oyster shells, and about 2 acres of my free-range yard. I feed Nutrena Nature Wise Heathy Hen and the save brand chick crumble.

10 weeks old?

Looks like normal cecal poop to me.

If you are checking crops during the day when they have been eating/drinking, you certainly will feel watery/filled crops.
Re-check crops first thing in the morning before the birds have had anything to eat/drink, if the crops are not empty, then begin treating according to this article. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

For 10wk old birds, I'd make sure they are mainly eating chick starter and have access to poultry grit (crushed granite). Foraging is fine, but the chick starter generally has more protein and less calcium than layer feed.

 

[Lillith37]

If their crops are still watery/squishy first thing in the morning when you check, then I can recommend giving them fennel tea before attempting anti-fungal.

Boil some fennel seeds in water, wait until it cools and then use a dropper to give to your birds. A couple of ml will be fine.

You can give it to them in the morning and/or in the evening.

I have one chicken who frequently has crop issues where her crop doesn’t properly empty overnight. The fennel tea does the trick every time. I usually make myself a cup in the evening and reserve some for Lorraine if she needs it when I check her in the morning. If she has something in her crop in the morning I give her a few ml in the morning with a massage, and then again at night before roosting. Her crop is always empty the next morning.

 

[LunaBlue]

Thank you both for the advice!

Yes, the cockerel and two pullets are about 10-12 weeks. Do you think they'd do alright on an all-flock pellet instead of chick crumble?

Their crops both felt much less watery yesterday evening when I pulled them off the roost for a little massage. The rooster then puked a little on me

I will give the tea a try today. Thank you!!

 

[Kearaaaa23]

The pic of the poop you sent looks lime normal cecal poop which they poop often. Check his crop in the morning and see if its hard or squishy. If its hard then it's more likely to be an impacted crop which then leads to sour crop. See if there's any liquid coming from his mouth. Massage his crop DOWNWARDS and give him a few (2-3) drops of oil and massage 3 times a day. If you find out it is sour crop just feed him some yogurt along with massages daily and hopefully his crop clears up.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The pic of the poop you sent looks lime normal cecal poop which they poop annually. Check his crop in the morning and see if its hard or squishy. If its hard then it's more likely to be an impacted crop which then leads to sour crop. See if there's any liquid coming from his mouth. Massage his crop DOWNWARDS and give him a few (2-3) drops of oil and massage 3 times a day. If you find out it is sour crop just feed him some yogurt along with massages daily until his crop clears up.

Annually? You mean they produce Cecal poop only once a year?

Cecal poop is produced in the Ceca and it is seen about once out of every 8-10 poops, so you will see quite a bit of Cecal poop daily.

Yogurt alone will not clear up a Crop that has turned sour, it can be given in very small amounts a few times a week as a good source of probiotics.

 

[Kearaaaa23]

Annually? You mean they produce Cecal poop only once a year?

Cecal poop is produced in the Ceca and it is seen about once out of every 8-10 poops, so you will see quite a bit of Cecal poop daily.

Yogurt alone will not clear up a Crop that has turned sour, it can be given in very small amounts a few times a week as a good source of probiotics.

Whoops I didn't mean to put annually. I happens often, what else would you reccomend for a sour or impacted crop? Yogurt and avc water aswell as daily massaging cleared my chickens sour crop up within 2 days but it was detected quite early.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Whoops I didn't mean to put annually. I happens often, what else would you reccomend for a sour or impacted crop? Yogurt and avc water aswell as daily massaging cleared my chickens sour crop up within 2 days but it was detected quite early.

Glad you found something that works for you.
Sour Crop can take a long time to resolve since it's an infection. The article linked previously and again below is the treatment protocols I follow. They work for me

Re-check crops first thing in the morning before the birds have had anything to eat/drink, if the crops are not empty, then begin treating according to this article. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/