[pink-chicken]

Sweet Pea had a bout of sour crop when we first aquired the girls in the Summer. All other three have been fine (touch wood) with no signs of this whatsoever. We tried all the usuals, Daktarin, maggots etc. The maggots got rid of the fluid filled contents but resulted in a solid feeling crop. After a trip to the vets and crop flush she's been fine ever since... until the recent wet weather. We've kept her on a softish diet as advised by the vet, mash instead of pellets etc. During the recent rain she found a patch of mud as they do and proceeded to feast on that. The other girls love to eat dirt for some reason but show no ill affects. Since Sweet Pea's lapse we are now back to square one with her. Last Thursday we took her to the vet again as her crop was really hard. They kept her in overnight (our very reasonable vet only charges about a fiver for this privelage) and the blockage cleared itself. She seemed fine until the weekend but now has the large fluid filled crop thing going on again. She will ignore her mash in preference for soil now  I'm beginning to wonder if she's silted up inside like an old river bed. I have tried massage and tipping her gently up, a little muddy looking stuff came out but not enough to clear her. I'm also trying the Daktarin again. She wouldn't touch yogurt the last time I tried her and I'm having difficulty finding ACV other than online. We haven't another 'safe' place to put her either away from soil. As we are now 'carless' the vets isn't an option as he's about 8 mile away and not as the crow flies.

Sorry for such a long post but needed to get Pea's history down. Any advice would be greatfully received by both of us 

Jan.x

[Vember]

Only thing I can think of PC is that she's eating the soil to get grit to help grind up her food

Have they got grit down 24/7 ?

Sarah

[Foxy]

Have a look at the "useful stickies" at the top of the page, you will find links to poultry suppliers and should find one to send you some ACV.
Try some natural pro-biotic yoghurt as well, it could be as well as possibly lacking grit she has an imbalance of her natural flora causing stasis of her digestion. Have a sniff of her beak - does it smell a bit "off" or the same as the other girls?
Check that the food is in date, good quality and dry. I avoid mash as it can quickly get cloggy.
It could also be she has a "foreign object in her crop causing it to become sluggish. A lot of sour crop is actually a consequence of inpacted crop.

[pink-chicken]

Thank you both 

Sarah, It's always worth querying just in case but yes they have grit available at all times. It's the usual mixed poultry grit and I add ground oyster shell that we have for the budgies. They get their baked eggshells in the pot too so there's quite a mix in there. It's all such a puzzle 

Foxy, I will pop and look at the 'stickies' now. Her breath did 'smell' the other day, that awful pong you sometimes get when passing bins that are out for the dustmen. When I got her to bring that bit of liquid up there wasn't much of a smell though. The food is in date as they eat so much of it  It's a brand called Dobson and Horrells that we buy in 'sacks' from a local farmers superstore. I'll try them with pellets again but the little minxes have a taste for their mash bless them.

Jan.x