4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[MaxBaz]

As always, whenever I need some REAL help with the girls, I turn to the Forum. When I lost poor Edwina to sour crop (presumed cause) a couple of months ago, I ordered some Nystatin from our vet to keep in stock - knowing that it took a couple of days to source if I ever needed it again. I was ready and waiting when little Kay had the classic symptoms and following the vets instructions (3ml per kilo weight, twice a day for six days) she made a miraculous recovery about three weeks ago.

 

All well and good - I go on holiday for 10 days, but a day before I get back am phoned to say she is ill again. Vet sees her and tells the "Animal Aunt" who is looking after her to go back on Nystatin for another course of 6 days.

 

I get home and she is right as rain - with the last dosage due Sunday ( 13th June morning). On morning Saturday 12th she looks absolutely DREADFUL - her comb is blue, tail down, totally miserable not eating or drinking. I ring the vet and say should I continue with another (3rd course) of Nystatin and he says yes.

 

By Sunday afternoon I thought she had died - hadn't eaten in 2 days, hunched up in the cage - so make the decision not to continue the course as she gets so stressed having the 6ml syringed into her twice a day and let nature take its course. Weirdly - now she is improving - don't understand - could I have been overdosing her?

 

To cut a long story short - today she ate some mash - she is standing about (rather than slumped down) and she hasn't had any medication for 48 hours. What is the correct dosage of Nystatin per kg of chook and how many courses can you give?

 

I may still lose her - I just simply don't understand why she appears to be better - but believe me I am not complaing!

[Egluntyne]

Found this on 'tinterweb, so don't take it as gospel.

 

1 ml/350 g body weight daily for 7 days

[MaxBaz]

Interesting - thanks for that. On the basis that the course is 7 days (rather than 6) Kay probably has been given too much as I was told to give her 6ml TWICE a day - your information from the internet would indicate 6ml ONCE a day. She weighs about 1.9kg

[chickenlicken72]

Just had the same issue - hen with sour crop (conveniently over the bank holiday). I gave her the oral Daktarin until I could get her to the vet on the Tuesday. She was given Nystatin at a dose of 5 ml twice a day (she weighs a measly 1.72 Kg) and also some antibiotics (Noroclav). This led to an interesting few days of force feeding the liquid and 1" tablet into her. I have to admit I failed in the most part as she shook most of it out (which I reaslise is not great). But touch wood - it seems to have done the trick so far but I personally think the Daktarin helps aleviate the worst of it.

 

I hope she is feeling better soon.

[MaxBaz]

As always, learn more through the forum than anything else! Not heard of Daktarin - how do I get it. I try and keep a spare bottle of Nystatin in the garage but that is prescription only. what is the dosage for Daktarin?

 

Thanks for comments - Kay does seem improved and has been off any medication (except cuddles) since Sunday morning. She is eating her mash/yoghurt now and whilst still a bit "dazed" her tail is up and she is scratching about.

 

The emotional up/down these little bundles of feathers cause is astonishing

[Egluntyne]

You get Daktarin Oral Gel from the chemist. Don't let on that it is for the chickens or they won't be allowed to sell it to you, as it is *not licensed for use on poultry in UK.

 

A pea sized blob into the beak a couple or three times a day will help.

[MaxBaz]

Interestingly, have just been given another recommendation for the treatment of Sour Crop - Vanodine in the water.

 

Never heard of it, but to be used instead of Nystatin for 5 days in drinking water. Isolation and no food for the first two days, on third day a little corn and if the corn "passes through" it would indicate the fungul infection has been killed off and normal food can be served.

 

Has anybody used it, and what dosage as it was suggested I give all the girls a treatment in their water for 5 days?

[chickenlicken72]

I would have thought that a product that you could add to drinking water would be preferable than the Nystatin. But this is based on my experience with 1 hen, who was still drinkging (alot) when she had sour crop but not eating anything (and turned her beak up at the Nystatin). As it was, I did not offer her food (not that she was interested) for the two days when she was really ill and then slowly introduced mash and other soft foods. However, she did have an impacted crop operated on only a couple of weeks before the sour crop developed.

 

If it has been going on a while it may not be fungal - I think the antifungal meds are meant to work quite quickly (i.e. within 3 days). You may wish to consider sending a sample to Retfords for analysis? I was close to doing so but thankfully she pulled through and laid her first egg for a while today. I hope your chook pulls through - I can really empathise how frustrating it can be - if only they could talk and tell you what was wrong!

[Egluntyne]

Interestingly, have just been given another recommendation for the treatment of Sour Crop - Vanodine in the water.

 

Never heard of it, but to be used instead of Nystatin for 5 days in drinking water. Isolation and no food for the first two days, on third day a little corn and if the corn "passes through" it would indicate the fungul infection has been killed off and normal food can be served.

 

Has anybody used it, and what dosage as it was suggested I give all the girls a treatment in their water for 5 days?

 

I've only ever heard of it being used as a disinfectant. However, it says on the ** this website**

4 mls to 6 ltrs of drinking water sterilisation.

[MaxBaz]

So good to hear from you again - as always advising and giving fantastic advice! I have copied in the explanation direct from Mr Bland about this being for water purification - as he suggests I give all 6 girls a 5 day dose just to clear up any possible re-infection of Sour Crop.

 

Any respectable Pet Shop or Poultry Centre should keep this in stock as it can be used with ALL animals and birds. It is also the best animal disinfectant when used a little more concentrated directions on the label.

 

The strength required for dosage by ingestion is 4 ml per 6 litres.

 

I would cut out Cider Vinegar as it will not help sour crop, rather encourage the fungi. We used Vinegar up to the beginning of the 1950's for treatments such as coccidiosis as there were no other remedies on the market. It was reasonable successful. We now seem to have a passion for Cider Vinegar as the cure for all ills. Someone had been reading some very old books and does not appreciate that it was only vinegar, not cider vinegar which was the precursor until new treatments arrived on the scene. Much like tobacco was used for worming most farm animals and Nicotine used for killing mite

 

Best wishes

[Egluntyne]

It will be interesting to hear how you get on with it. Keep us posted.

[mostin]

Just commenting on this post, even though I know it's an old one, that I have just used Vanodine on a girl with really bad sour crop. Hopefully she is going to pull through, and I will be keeping that bottle in my first aid kit for a long time .

[sandyhas3chucks]

1ml to 2 litres water for 5 days, make fresh daily.

 

Is the dosage i was given from Retfords.

 

My vet advised at the time that 1ml stringed in would be fine.

 

If she were mine and it were recurring I would firstly get a throat swab off for testing then try and see why...

I read that sour crop is not an illness in itself but as a "result" of something else be it a course of antibiotics killing off all the good bacteria as well as bad.

Often as a result of the crop going into stasis because of a blockage of some sort in some place in the system, egg bound/lash/physical blockage in the crop.

you might like to try just maggots that apparently are brilliant for earting the goop of sour crops as well as being good for blocked crops.

good ;luck

[MaxBaz]

Please let me know how you get on with your girl with Vanodin dosage - I lost dear little Kay eventually but she survived another four months after the initial post I made in June.

 

Touch wood at present all my 7 girls are fine......

[mostin]

Yes, the sour crop my girl just got was caused by the antibiotics given for a severe chest infection .

 

The bottle of Vanodine V18 says 1 part in 1500, which is 1ml in 1.5 L . I gave her just this this for a couple of days along with the antibiotics, changing it as soon as it lost it's colour, very clever, as you can tell as soon as it has stopped being effective because of that .

 

She is on food again now, but maggots only so far. She is looking very perky and bright eyed, and fingers crossed she may be my first girl who has made it through a set of illnesses as bad as this .

[Egghead68]

My vet told me 1ml per kg straight into their beaks twice a day. You can get it cheaply from human pharmacies with a vet prescription.

[mostin]

My vet told me 1ml per kg straight into their beaks twice a day. You can get it cheaply from human pharmacies with a vet prescription.

 

Think we may have our wires crossed , are you talking about the dose for Nystatin?

 

I was talking about the dose for Vanodine V18, an alternative I am trying, which can be bought without a prescription.

[MaxBaz]

Really really pleased to hear all well!!!!

 

Best wishes

[mostin]

Today Maria has not shut up all day , she is eating like a horse again, and doing massive poo's again . Really believe she has made it over the worst .

[sandyhas3chucks]

good news

[Jo leone]

I wondered the cost of nystatin at the vets roughly. 

[Cat tails]

15 hours ago, Jo leone said:

I wondered the cost of nystatin at the vets roughly. 

I would say, ring a vet. As this topic is over 10 years old, I doubt anyone involved will remember.

[sandyhas3chucks]

As irs prescription only in the uk you'll need to go to a vet . Around £25 from memory. 

Only about £3 or less abroad over the counter. 

5ml x 2 daily 

[Kaveda]

Hi I’m in a bit of a desperate situation. I’m so pleased I came across this thread. I have three silkies. On of them had been displaying weird head turning. Someone said she was adjusting her crop but I didn’t realise I was supposed to check it in the mornings. I kept an eye on her for a few weeks. She was eating well and scratching about happily but she started to loose weight so I took her to the vets after realising her crop was becoming an issue. 
 

last week I took her in in the afternoon and the vet said it was a bit full so I went back the next day but it had gone down a bit. The vet still emptied it but there wasn’t anything much to report back. 

She has always looked like she’s got a big chest so I’m wondering if this has been a problem for a long time and I just didn’t catch on soon enough. Somewhere I read that some chickens have pendulous crops and need a sling.

A few days after the op I checked her first thing in the morning. And it was full and squishy. I looked up how to empty the crop and did my best very carefully. It stank so I figured it was sour crop. I kept her in a cage and continued to fast her for a total of 20 hours but it still felt like she had a bit of a lump there. She is SO thin now it probably shows all the more. 
 

I was advised to give her digestive enzymes with probiotics and Harrison’s recovery. She still has an appetite and has enjoyed massage and cuddles but the crop is not really going down… the vet said to feed her because its a toss up between her starving or struggling with her crop so I added small bits of crumble. 

The big dilemma I have is I’m away on holiday for two weeks from next Thursday- less than a week, and we have a bank holiday this weekend so I have all weekend worrying about her and not knowing what to do with the food situation. I’m continuing to give her crumb and enzymes and Harrison’s but I’m feeling so worried and stressed. I have ordered Nystatin but it’s not here until Tuesday and I travel on Thursday. I really feel like I need to take more action this weekend but I don’t know what to do. 

I read about using daktarin.. would that be worth trying? I  have booked her into another vets who is more ok with chickens for Tuesday. The problem is my neighbour is brilliant feeding and looking over them but I’m not sure about having to administer medication! 
 

I have brought the other two into the front room in a cage next to hers. She seems fine in character. Even pecking the lower rank one when I let them all out together for a few mins but I don’t know if she would be ok going back out into the main run. 

im not sure my chum will be able to manage her being in a cage separately in the house and doing the whole med thing and I’m not sure my silkies that happy not near her chums. She has perked up today since she ate some more and saw her sisters. 

it’s just this crop. I was advised very strongly not to make her vomit up again so now I am stuck worrying about everything fermenting for the next three days!

I feel all over the place because there are so many things to consider!! I am feeling very upset that I am not going to be here for the next few weeks to oversee everything. I want to give her the best chance and I feel time ticking away because it’s bank holiday. 

I would hate to loose her. We have  had the best purring chirpy cuddles.  I’ve never had a purring silkie on my lap before. Now have bonded even more I can’t stand the thought of loosing her !!

ANY tips and advice to help me think straight with all these factors would be appreciated immensely!!!! 

 

my head is spinning and I am so stressed!