Miss Millies Chicken Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Hi A complete newbie I bought a cube and 2 chickens last August. Since than I've had an ongoing problem with sour crop in one of my hens Dorcas. The other hen plus two more which I introduced in December have had no problems. Dorcas layed her first egg 3rd Sept and the following day started with sour crop. I took her to the vets and over the next few weeks various antibiotics were tried including a swab culture of the crop. It was assumed that long grass was causing the problem so I restricted their access to the garden but this didn't help. The longest period she has been well was in December for 5 weeks, the shortest a week. I manage the problem by emptying the crop and giving her liquid paraffin and massageing the crop. The sour crop usually lasts for about 5 days and in that time she looses a lot of weight, stops laying and is quite poorly. She then regains her weight and gets back to being her bossy self but unfortunately she starts laying and the sour crop starts again. I have tried ACV and probiotics to no avail. Has anyone come across sour crop linked to egg laying before? Any advice would be helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 If an egg is stuck along the way, it can slow down or stop the whole sytem resulting in crop not moving and going sour. Sour crops don't need massaging but blocked crops do, Blocked crops can turn sour.# Antibiotics can cause candisda infections (sour crop) Oral Nystatin would be the prescription drug for that. Citricidal in the water may help. What did the swab come up with. Think you need to try and work out, which/what is the root cause, then maybe go from there? What are her poos like? Is she eating and drinking ok, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Millies Chicken Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Unfortunately Dorcas was PTS on Monday morning at the Vets. Her crop had not been emptying over night since the begining of last week but despite this she was still laying. Her last egg was laid on Friday (which I shall blow and keep). She went down hill very quickly on Sunday. I was surprised that she was still alive on Monday morning. The vet thought that she had peritonitis. She was now so very weak and I didn't want her to suffer any more. She went to sleep peacefully in my arms. My other three hens are now leader less and none of them appear to want to be top hen. In answer to your reply I cannot remember what bug was out of sinc in her crop but she was given an antibiotic specific for it along with metacam and metoclopramide. Despite the drugs she was still getting bouts of filled crop so I stopped them last October. I did try citricidal in the water to no avail. In between episodes she was eating, drinking well and poo normal and would gain weight. But as soon she laid an egg the problem would start again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Very sorry to hear about poor Dorcas . She obviously wasn't a well girl . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilda-and-evadne Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Oh, poor you, and poor Dorcas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilda-and-evadne Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Sour crops don't need massaging Um, in my experience they do, to separate the excess mucus from any half-digested feed in the crop, and then you can - carefully - pour out the mucus and keep the feed in the crop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyhas3chucks Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 really sorry to hear your sad news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
