[TonyW]

Afternoon all

I've just joined the site after many months of reading and decided to take the plunge today!

I got 5 chickens about 6 months ago and they have all settled in really well. Took about 3 weeks to start laying but now they are unstoppable. 

About 6 weeks ago one of my girls (lolly) seemed to be a bit under the weather and seeing as she was at the top of the pecking order this was most out of character. 
I noticed that she had an enlarged crop and as I'm still quite new to keeping chooks, after reading different poultry books I rang the place where I got them from and he gave me the number for the vets they use. 

Next day I was at the vets and poor old lolly had to be held upside down whilst her crop was squeezed and emptied. 
After several days of being quarantined and given the medicine the vet supplied she was really coming along well. 

Then the same thing happened last week so off to the vets again but this time he said it wouldn't be fair on her to repeat the process and the best thing would be to put her to sleep :-( 

The vet thought she had eaten a lot of straw which caused a blockage but I removed all the straw from the house etc yet it happened again. 

Has anyone had a similar experience because I obviously don't want it happening to any of the others.

Thanks in advance


Tony

[orchardlady]

Hello Tony and welcome, welcome. You will find lots of friendly and useful advice on this forum. I'm so sorry to hear about you poorly hen. I very recently had a young hen with the same problem..Sour Crop. You can either read the conversation I had by typing Sour Crop. Advice Welcome in the box on the right hand top of this page and or just type Sour Crop into the same box and you'll get all the references to the problem. There is also a useful 'stickie' page on the condition.
Best of luck and keep posting your chickenie questions as I said there are lot's of people here who are very experienced and should be able to help.

PS You may find one of the moderators moves your post to 'The Hen House'

[arugula]

You may find one of the moderators moves your post to 'The Hen House'

And as if by magic...

[Kym503]

Welcome to the Forum.

Sorry to hear you lost your hen - it's dreadfully upsetting and it never gets easier as they are so enchancing.

You stated that you removed the straw but did you replace it with anything....like hay for example?  If so this may have been eaten as well.


Kym

[TonyW]

Thanks 

I did put some dry grass clippings in the hens nesting area (as advised by vet) but it wasn't really suitable. I now use shredded newspaper which I find works really well.

[Curlytop]

Hello and Welcome Tony
Sorry to hear of your loss
I am pleased to say none of my chooks have had sour crop but you will find lots of information on here and loads of wonderful chicken keepers to help along the way.
Good luck 

[evie2]

Hello Tony, welcome to our chook world, sorry to hear about your hen, sounds nasty. 

It's not happened to us so no advice except someone will be along soon with words of wisdom 

[sneezer]

Hi sorry to hear about your loss.  I think the problem was the grass clippings, this  causes sour crop, so its a good job you have changed to shredded paper, I used to use the paper method but I ended up spilling loads and its a nightmare to clean up, I just use wood shavings now! all the best with your girls

[bantam novice]

Welcome to the forum, Tony and the wacky world of henaholics 

So sorry to hear about your hen.  I can't add anything to the replies you already have but just to wish you luck.

Cheers!

[TonyW]

Thanks for all the kind replies. 

[Sassy]

I'm sorry for your loss and you clearly did your very best. Enjoy your hens now

I'm surprised the vert advised the use of grass clippings dry or otherwise. Grass breaks down very quickly when cut and heats up. Even if it was very dry ie hay, hay is not suitable for bedding hens. Hens will eat hay and grass in whatever form.

[daisy1990]

We find that hemcore works really well as bedding, it smells good, composts well and the hens dont seem to like to eat it.  Sorry to hear about your poor hen, we love ours to bits!

[Jeanette]

I am so sorry, I agree it was probably the grass cuttings. Do you girls free range because eating long grass can cause sour crop. When my girls were free range we always keept the grass short.

[TonyW]

Yes they do free range most days and I always make sure the grass is short and the chooks help me out on that front too 

Shredded newspaper works well I think but I might try Hemcore and see how they get on with that.