What my Vet recommends for SOUR CROP

[evilcitty]

My Pekin cockerel, 9 wks has Sour Crop. It's quite severe. I found him tuesday and he had a HUGE, I mean HUGE hard crop. Sorta mango size. I kid you not. I hadn't noticed earlier on account of his short legs and fluffy body. Despite all this he bumbled about and acted fine, still eating and pecking about. I brought him in, kept him somewhere quiet and warm, took his food off him, gave him some olive oil and water with electrolytes and massaged the crop. By the next morning it was much softer and down a little bit. By the day after it orange sized was very squidgey and watery. I'd been reading up on what I can in my Poultry Book and Internet so I also started giving him a little live culture yoghurt and encouraging him to vomit by holding him against my chest and bending over and squeezing the crop to expell the liquid. He has been sleepy, has a floppy comb but is still ravenously hungry and drinks okay and still mooches about. I'd expect him to be acting sicker for the size of that thing! I'm really surprised at him. I've been nursing him for three days now. Droppings have been mostly dry filled with long pieces of grass. His vomit is also grassy.

I took him to the vet today.
She said not to make him vomit at all as it's not good and he can choke.
I've been given Baytril for him to take twice daily in a little water.
I've been given some 'Carnivore Care' recovery food to make up into a liquid and feed a little. No more yoghurt.
I also had 'Lectade' sachets which I mix together (A+B) and put into a pint of water for him to drink.
I've been instructed to massage him often.

Is this what you guys use/do?
What do you think?

 

[Megan Amber]

Well if it is hard and feels almost clogged then I give them a few drops of olive oil and massage his crop until it begins to loosen. I have also heard that giving him apple cider vinegar is really good for breaking up the hard crop.

 

[evilcitty]

Very confused. I've been reading anything on sour crop google chucks out. I've found on a forum someone saying antibiotics just strip the gut of good bacteria, are ineffective and you should use an antifungal and keep feeding live cultures.

It's hard to know what do when a person experianced with chickens says one thing and the vet says another.

I also fear my little man has 'pendulous crop'. It is very saggy after going down alot but still not emptying completely. He remains perky and alert but is losing weight. Any advice appreciated!!

 

[dawg53]

Pendulous crop is probably the cause of all the problems your Pekin is having. Here's a link that will help you out:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/742706/crop-problems

 

[Suzierd]

Sour crop is squishy like a water balloon. Impacted crop is hard and eating long strands of grass can cause this. Best of luck with him.

 

[evilcitty]

Thanks Dawg and Suzierd
So this Pendulous crop thing...It is permanent damage and I will need a 'crop bra' for him? He's doing much better. His crop is sorta normalish full-size but it's always squishy and lower than it should be and doesn't seem to empty much more than that. It never seems to go flat or completely empty, no matter how much I massage it.
Do you think with him being young he will grow a bit and his overstretched crop will not be so oversized for him?
Can it be put right again, maybe through surgery? Is there anyone out there that has had this done?