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SamK0403

Potential Sour Crop/Something Else

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Hi All - first post here!

On Thursday last week we noticed that our pekin hen Bluebell (21 months old) had quite a full crop. We left her overnight and the crop didn't go down so we assumed that it was either sour crop or impacted.

She had impacted crop last year and had an operation at the vet to remove lots of grass etc she'd been eating (truthfully it was my fault as we fed her grass when we first got her - you live and learn!). When we went last year our vet treated her for sour crop but then cleared it out and said it was in fact impacted. We went to the vet on Friday and the vet seemed a little dismissive, with me saying about her previous and what happened last time he ended up prescribing tylan to inject into her breast. This seemed a little odd as it was her crop we thought the issue and the vet prescribed something for respiratory illness.

I injected this on Saturday (the vet did it on Friday) and then by Saturday night she was so weak and 'floppy' that we expected the worst when we woke up Sunday, but she was still there.

We decided to stop with the injection as we're convinced that this almost killed her (anybody any experience with this?) and then started giving her ACV and keeping her off food. In a panic, we didn't see much progress so we decided to switch things to garlic water and yoghurt only - which is said to do wonders. 

Now, a couple of days after this she appears to be on the mend, i had to make her sick yesterday morning (and a lot came up, including some bile looking stuff) and after this her crop was pretty much empty. Since this she has taken yoghurt and tonight we fed her yoghurt with some scrambled egg in (which she couldn't get enough of).

She's on the mend still but we are worried that she seems to be preening herself an awful lot, she is making strange head movements from top to bottom and side to side and when the food or water sometimes goes down we can sometimes hear bubbling or gas like symptoms.

Finally, when massaging her yesterday afternoon it felt like i popped a gas bubble or similar and it felt like a lot of any blockage that may have been there was gone.

She's pooping quite a lot and it's quite runny and not too much substance but i can see things passing through.

Anybody have any thoughts? I know we haven't done things right but just want her to get better!

 

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You don't say when she was last wormed with Flubenvet, because worms can obstruct the digestive system sufficiently to cause a blockage if something like grass or large pieces of grain are eaten. If she's eating grass, provided it is short and not stems it will go through, normally.

She will do those strange neck movements to clear an uncomfortable crop condition or blockage. Yoghurt isn't a good idea; just plain water and no food until the gassing and head moving stops is what we'd do.

No idea why you were given Tylan? Never been given anything to inject by any vet either; difficult enough to give water soluble treatments by dropper without them choking.

Hope she gets better.

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Thanks for the comments guys.

We wormed the flock around 3 months ago and she has access to mixed grit.

By way of an update, Bluebell is very much full of life and we've decided now to just give her the water for the next day or so - although i'm certain that i'm going to have to force her to drink this.

This morning some of her crop had gone down and i tipped her upside down and it really was a horrible smelling mixture that came out - i think it's definitely sour crop.

I've read about anti-fungal treatments but I have never done anything with this, is it worth exploring?

Finally. we've decided that we're going to take her back to the vet on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm going to question the Tylan as I think it's set her back horribly - it's a shame we haven't got a vet nearby who specialises in chickens - unless anybody knows any near me (I'm in Hereford in Herefordshire).

Edit - she's also started eating her own poop now - i've tried to stop her when i catch her but have read it can be good for them?!

Edited by SamK0403
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We're off to the vet again later on but Bluebell seems much better in herself today. We decided to only give her water for 24 hours and then minimal amounts of yoghurt every couple of hours (i've read good and bad things). I also gave her a handful of sunflower heart seeds at lunch which were well received.

Today I have seen no neck movements and there has been no build up of gas in the crop or any fluids which i'm taking as a good sign.

We're seeing what the vet says later but hoping that the yeasty mixture has died away or is a lot less prominent. 

Probably a little too early to tell but it's promising.

She has clearly been eating a few more of her poos but at lunchtime she did a couple and didn't pick them up - let's wait and see what is next.

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2 hours ago, Luvachicken said:

Sounds like she could be on the mend 😊

How did she get on at the vets ?

She was good at the vets. They think that the Tylan might have caused sour crop and that it killed all bacteria.

The vet has given us Nystatin which we can start using if there's any signs of it but she seems a different chicken tonight, we've given her a bit more seed now and she's keen on everything. 

Still no neck movements after the food so will have to wait and see what happens come tomorrow morning.

Vet also encouraged yoghurt and said it's one of the best things for the chicken!

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3 minutes ago, SamK0403 said:

Vet also encouraged yoghurt and said it's one of the best things for the chicken!

Interesting. My vet says it’s just about the worst thing to feed a chicken.

But good news she’s perking up. I would put her back on layer pellets as seed alone can also start to ferment in a crop.

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3 minutes ago, Cat tails said:

You are better of using something like Berryls as that will just contain said bacteria and no lactose. Is this the same ver that tried to treat sour crop with antibiotics?

No, a different vet. This one was much more clued up and (without explicitly saying so) was a little bemused by the diagnosis initially. 

 

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Bluebell is her perky self now again which is fantastic! We're monitoring it each day and she's still in the hospital cage (suitable for a medium sized dog).

The flock are heading to a new home in the garden next week inside 2 sheds put together and the outside will have bark so we're waiting until then to re-incorporate her with the others.

It's hard to put a finger on it but I think that the antibiotics made the sour crop bad and then, from there, once we only gave her water for 24 hours and then we just gave yoghurt for the next 24 hours it seems to sort the issue.

Very happy here at the moment and hopefully it's positive from hereon in!

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On 6/28/2021 at 8:35 PM, Cat tails said:

Interesting. My vet says it’s just about the worst thing to feed a chicken.

I see lots of chickens with sour crop and would say over half the owners have been giving yoghurt. I recommend avoiding.

Glad to hear she is on the mend :) 

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