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[Claireabella]

My poor Bluebell (2 3/4 yr old hybrid) has recently had a really bad bout of sour crop after eating frozen sweetcorn and I thought I'd share her story in case it helps someone else. She is the greediest and absolutely pigged out on this bowl of defrosted sweetcorn I gave them. I think this was the problem - with fresh sweetcorn on the cob she can only peck bits off.

 

2 days after sweetcorn - she was stood in the corner, not eating, puffed up and had a massive watery crop. I had no intention of making her sick (not on my own anyway!) but as soon as I touched her crop, brown liquid came out of her beak and we had no choice but to make her sick (well, OH did with my help). This went on for two days and we tried feeding her live probiotic yogurt with boiled egg but she didn't eat much.

 

She perked up a bit on day 3 and 4 and her crop did not fill back up but she still seemed off her food and I noticed she wasn't pooping much either.

 

Day 5 - Massive sour crop again. This time when she was sick lots of sweetcorn shells came out with the brown liquid. She had stood around all day looking very poorly and she was so ill I thought we might lose her. We planned to take her to the vets the next day if no better. I started giving her Daktarin oral gel *Not licenced for Poultry in the UK*

 

Day 6 - Her crop did not fill back up but I carried on with the Daktarin oral gel anyway and she started pooping out loads of sweetcorn kernels which must have stayed in her crop for nearly a week!

 

Day 7 - Still pooping sweetcorn but back to her usual self, eating very well and running around like a spring chicken (making up for lost time I think)!!

 

She has been well for about 5 days now and putting everyone back in their place . I'll be keeping a close eye on her and no more frozen sweetcorn Many thanks for the excellent advice in the poultry health section on this forum Sorry for the length of post

[jeshen]

Useful to know. Thanks for posting.

[Grandmashazzie]

Goodness Claireabella what a nightmare.Mine love defrosted sweetcorn.I give them about a cereal bowl between 6 so I suppose they don't get too much each.I'll certainly watch how much they get after your story.

[mullethunter]

Thanks Clairabella and well done for mending your poorly lady

[redsunset]

Good post. I have opened a tin or two in the past but as I have 30 + then it's been ok. I do plan to naturally downsize to about 12 in the next couple of years and will bear this in mind, as always one extra greedy one who will scoff way more than others if allowed.

[Beantree]

I think what happened is she had a digestive impaction from eating so much Claireabella. This mean't very slow digestive transit leading to the corn rotting in the crop and giving the apparent symptom of sour crop. The treatment is water only and to keep them very active, so that the movement works the blockage free. We treated an Orpington two months ago for an impaction. It took a month for the blockage to clear during which time she lost half her bodyweight. It was a cherry stone with grass backed up behind it.

 

The general rule for treats is they should form only the tiniest part of their otherwise pellet diet. Sweetcorn is very fattening. This leads to an abdominal fat buildup and stops them laying.

[PixieDust]

I have read sweetcorn should really only be given as a before bed treat during the winter to help keep them warm at night. I have no experience so can't say for sure, but maybe corn should be something very rarely fed during warmer months.

[Beantree]

Wheat is a good night time treat Pixiedust. It digests very slowly and gives them fuel during a long cold night. Having said that ours are rather fat and could do with losing some weight anyway. It does heat them up in summer though, so we avoid it.

[PixieDust]

Ok thank you Beantree. I will bare that in Monday for the future. Edit: bare this in mind lol

Edited September 11, 2014 by Guest

[Claireabella]

Yep, the thing here was that she ate too much. It was probably less than half a cereal bowl between three but I think it's likely that she pushed Amber and Poppy out of the way and scoffed the lot herself! I don't usually give them treats in bowls, they're usually scattered around the garden so that they all get some but on this day it had rained most of the day and they'd been stuck in the run, so I thought a treat would be nice

 

I don't usually feed any dried corn/ wheat in the summer but they do get a handful late afternoon in the colder months. Bluebell is still doing well - she's a tough old girl

[Luvachicken]

Thanks for sharing.

I hope your girlie continues to make good progress.

[Chortle Chook]

Your poor greedy girl Claireabella. I'm glad she is OK now.

Beantree thanks for your post. Things like cherry stones are clearly something to watch out for as well as chooks being generally rather geedy.

[Charlottechicken]

Crikey! Mine have only ever had corn on the cob, I'll keep it that way too.

 

Thanks for posting this op

[Cat tails]

I give mine a bit of corn on the cob once in a while (after I'm done eating of course!). But this got me thinking though. Cinnamon is rather dominant over food... So now I just pick most of the kernels of and spread them around the garden. Else she might finish the lot herself.

[KimmyCustard]

I only ever hang a small lump of sweetcorn in the run between 4 (well 3 now!) and they play chicken swingball with it. That way no single hen gets it all. I also hide wheat in piles of old leaves at this time of the year, makes them hunt for it and keeps them busy!