2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[Henslaved]

Can a hen have sour crop but still seem perky and have a good appetite?

Edited March 22, 2012 by Guest

[Redwing]

Yes they can but once the crop gets very sour and full they do slow up a bit

 

It's best to remove all food for now

[Henslaved]

Put her in the cat carrier early this morning with just water and a little added ACV she also has access to grit.

 

Got home from work and her crop doesn't feel as watery as last night and it has reduced in size a bit. Still feels a bit gloopy though. Gave her a few white maggots just incase there is a small blockage I can't feel.

 

I feel so sorry for her as she LOVES her food, poor girl .

[mollyripkim]

How is she doing now?

[Henslaved]

She is back mingling with the others as I felt so sorry for her in the cat carrier (she hated it ). Her crop is never completely empty in the morning, but she is still pooping plenty and still lays every few days. Oh and she still loves her food but she is barred from having any hard grains .

Am still giving her a few white maggots first thing in the morning and have put a garlic clove in her water. She also gets a little pro biotic yoghurt.

Will just keep a very close eye on her.

Thanks for asking .

[Henslaved]

Ugh! her crop is very full again this morning. I saw her bend down to pick up some grit and in doing so she was sick (which Rosie decided to eat till I stopped her ). So she is back in the cat carrier with just water and some grit for now . She is still passing food as there was a lot of poop under where she slept. She also managed to produce an egg for me yesterday bless her.

Ugh! I hate it when they're ill .

[Henslaved]

Have just been to check on her and her crop feels just about empty .

She is furious about being starved all day .

 

Is it possible she just has a slow working crop?

 

Or is she just so greedy her crop can't keep up with what she puts in it?

 

Should I let her out to FR with the others this evening?

 

Confused now and also feel guilty about keeping her food from her.

[Henslaved]

Well, I decided to let her out to FR with the others. As soon as she was released from her prison she headed straight for the layers pellets and proceeded to stuff her little face . After a few minutes she was outside FR with the others. Meanwhile, I am poo picking and generally cleaning up and tidying in the WIR and doing other little odd jobs, about an hour later she comes running around the corner her crop stuffed to the gills and swinging merrily as she runs (so glad I decided to call her Pudding ).

 

After she had gone to bed I decided I should have a little peek at her and found her doing the break dance thing with her neck (she has done this before). I assume she is trying to move food around in her crop, could this mean she has a small blockage or is she just sooooooo greedy? Anyone?

[laurmurf]

i know exactly what you mean by the 'break dancing' neck movement.

It's not greediness, it's a blocked crop.

 

I have a bantam brahma who has to be treated regularly, and I have had hens die of starvation as I didn't realise that the full crop wasn't a good sign!. A constantly full crop means food/water/nutrition isn't getting through.

 

I would suggest you tip her up and massage the crop empty: you may see the blockage come out when you do this, or may not.

 

I would then lavage the crop (tube down the throat into the crop, with a large-ish syringe attached) and I fill her up with avipro water, massage the crop, then tip her up and empty her out again. I've sometimes done this 3 or 4 times before I've shifted the blockage. I've had some success with manipulating the blockage up her throat and out of her mouth, and have managed to syringe liquid paraffin into her to and shift the blockage downwards too. I think the recurrence comes from the fact that her crop muscles have now been a bit damaged and i also believe she may have some malformity of the opening to the gizzard from the crop, which means she blocks with wheat and corn too.

 

If you can't lavage then tip her up, empty her out, but her in a dog crate with nothing to eat but plenty to drink (avipro is brilliant but you could put some yoghurt in water too), leave her with just this for a good 24 hours - keep syringing to keep her fluids up and massage the crop regularly. Check her crop in the morning and see if there is any reduction in the size of the crop (a good sign) or not (bad). If she's still showing signs of blockage, try the liquid paraffin route.

 

good luck!

[Henslaved]

Thank you for the reply.

 

I have tried to empty her crop a couple of times with not much success. I have managed to empty it a little not much came out just some gloopy looking stuff which surprisingly had no smell.

 

I am not comfortable with doing the crop tubing thing so will not go down that route.

 

The day I put her in the cat carrier with just water and grit, her crop was empty at the end of the day, no lumps in there that I could feel, it just felt like an empty bag.

 

She is still passing food as I have said and even lays the odd egg, so some nutrition is going in.

 

I think you could be right about the "malformity of the opening to the gizzard" as when she is left with just fluids her crop does empty. Poor girl , such a shame if your right as she does love her food.

 

I have her back in the cat carrier with some avipro and water much to her dissapproval .

Will see how she goes .

[Henslaved]

Well 24 hrs with just avipro and water and her crop seems virtually empty now , I have given her a few maggots just now but nothing else. When I picked her up to check her crop I was at how thin she has got without me noticing and I don't understand how she is still laying the odd egg unless she has been drawing on her bodily reserves.

 

I'm not sure what I should do now, I'm afraid if I let her out she will just gorge on the layers pellets again and I will be back to square one like last time.

 

Any advice much appreciated .