What Causes Sour Crop?

[minifarmmom]

Recently I had 2 chickens get sour crop. Unfortunately, one passed away today. The other hen had recovered a few days ago.
I will give a little background so maybe someone could tell me what most likely caused it. Especially since it happened to two of my girls in the course of a week.
I live in MN so the girls have been finally able to run around the yard as they please. I've read eating too much grass/greens could be a factor? Also, I had run out of my regular feed so I bought a new brand of food because my feed store was closed. I didn't think much about it but now I'm questioning that it could've been change of food. I also noticed I had a hen with scaly mites so I cleaned the coop and dusted with DE (to start).
Once I noticed the girls were acting sick I used ACV, Vet Rx and electrolytes/vitamins in their water. I also sprayed the coop with permethrin and sprayed their legs with iodine. I read that iodine is a more natural remedy for curing (and healing) scaly mites.
I realize there are many different ways for curing/ridding of insects and illnesses so I tried these options first. Anyways I don't want another hen to get sick from something I am doing wrong. Any ideas on what could've caused the sour crop is greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My chickens eat lots of grass so I don't think that necessarily is a reason. Sometimes I think there's an internal problem which causes stuff to stop being able to move correctly through the digestive tract. That you can't do anything about.

Sometimes a crop can get impacted and massaging it gently can help, but for me it only helped short term, so my one hen obviously had something else going on internally, and passed a few months after her crop issue.

Last winter I lost a few chickens who stopped eating. I have since discovered it was from the oatmeal I was feeding as a treat, so I definitely don't feed that anymore.

I haven't dealt with sour crop. That's a yeast infection I believe.

Most chickens are healthy until they aren't. Than small things start to go wrong. You can sometimes stop the small stuff but the real reason seems to keep coming.

Hopefully someone else has some better ideas than me.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/sour-crop/

 

[Shadrach]

A sudden change in diet may cause sour crop but if diet is the culprit then it's usually moldy/out of date or poor quality feed.
Changes in feed should always be done gradually to give the chikens digestive system time to adjust.
A lack of vitamin A in the diet may also be responsible for some cases of sour crop.
Eating grass may be the chickens response to the developing problem rather than the cause. Chickens do eat grass if they can. The chickens here tend to eat some grass just before roosting time.
There could be other digestive or reproductive problems that may prevent the crop from functioning correctly. Coccidia for example can cause crop impaction.
This is a very good article on the subject.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

 

[Jewelespc1010]

Wet food is a cause of sour crop. Food gets moldy and spores are created when food gets wet. Food containers outside should be checked for leaks. Washed dishes that are still wet should be dried completely before adding new food. I have seen feed bags bought that have gotten wet and dried and have clumps through the food. Hope this helps.