Bird not recovering from Sour Crop

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rufty

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Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« on: November 06, 2015, 13:21 »
Hi,
I just thought I should post and ask for people's thoughts. I have a girl, 2 1/2 years old - she's an ISA so arguably reaching the end of her life and I've been trying and failing all week to cure her sour crop. Wondering if people think I should put her down to save her distress.
That said she doesn't actually seem in distress - though we all know how good they can be at hiding that - but she has lost a lot of weight and is sometimes a bit lethargic.

Before people ask, here's what I've tried to do to treat the sour crop.
* Noticed on Saturday she was being docile and found the watery Crop
* For the next couple of days "tea-potted" her in the morning to drain the foul fluid and pipetted olive oil to her. Kept her separate from the other girls to isolate her from their normal feed. Didn't restrict her access to grass though because we don't have a grass-less area.
* Made sure throughout the time she only had access to water with ACV in it. Made sure there is an ample supply of grit including trying to hand feed it to her.
* By Tuesday she still hadn't improved so swapped to isolating her in our broody cage to deny her access to grass and fed her live yoghurt.
* Haven't emptied her out since then as once we limited her to just water and yoghurt it seemed to go through her okay.
* Last night she seemed a lot better so allowed her to have some pellets before bed.

However this morning when I went to let them out I felt her crop and she still had food in there.

What we were doing with isolating her and what felt like starving her seemed so cruel - even if it was for her own welfare - so today have left her in with the others to sort herself out and see if that does to improve the situation.

I'm open for suggestions/criticism on if we have been treating her wrong but I'm not sure what else we can do.

Any thoughts appreciated



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Beekissed

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2015, 14:44 »
It's not unusual for her to still have food in her crop the next morning.  I've butchered out birds that had a good amount of food in their crops a full 17 hrs past their last meal.  I don't think it's cruel at all to isolate her and not feed her until her crop empties...she's not likely hungry when it's like that any way. 

I do feel like she needs to be culled, simply because something like this is a sign of a poor immune system or some other underlying disease process going on.  Her quality of life is not optimal at this point, so no good reason for waiting. 

I don't think you've done anything wrong thus far and I think you are sensible in thinking it may be time to give her mercy before she suffers much longer or gets worse.  In her malnourished state, she'll be going into the winter without fat stores, even if she makes it that far. 

The SL birds are not much for longevity or a hardy existence and often die of reproductive issues by their second year, after suffering a good bit...I notice a lot of folks getting those quite a bit nowadays and that always leaves me wondering puzzled.  It's like trying to raise a broiler bird...both birds were designed for short, productive lives and seem to have an expiration date on the bottom that indicates "best used by".  Bred for commercial use, they aren't much value in a home flock if one wants to keep their chickens around a while.

   

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rufty

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2015, 14:56 »
Well the new girls are the closest to non-commercial hens I could get my hands on locally - a light Sussex, a speckled Rock and a copper Maran.
Hopefully they'll have more success in their old age than the ISAs have had.

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Helenaj

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2015, 11:33 »
The only other thing I can suggest to clear her crop is to feed her some live maggots-they will eat the contents of her crop. You can get them from any angling shop or good pet shop and they do seem to do the trick.
At her age commercials will tend to develop all sorts of problems, but saying that I have 2 Warrens (ISA Browns) that are coming up for 4 years old. They have stopped laying but are entitled to live out their remaining years as part of my flock.

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rufty

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2015, 10:20 »
Yeah, neither of my (remaining) ISAs laid beyond their first year. Which is fine, they're pets not a production facility - I just don't want her to suffer.
The thing was yesterday she had really perked up. Almost back to her old self again. She was wandering around with the others and generally being a happy looking chicken again. But this morning she is refusing to move and back to having a watery crop again. Worse than that her feathers are dirty and her comb is now drooping.

Never had to dispatch a chicken before - does anyone have any recommendations - in preparation a while back I got some dispatch pliers but have never used them. Time to research how to use them I guess.

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New shoot

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2015, 11:34 »
If you Google the broomstick method of dispatch, that is humane, fool proof and over in a flash.

I'm not suggesting you are a fool, but if you are inexperienced, it is good to know you are doing the deed as quickly as possible and not stressing the bird  :)

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nerdle

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2015, 21:15 »
If you haven't tried it get some live maggots now. We had an upsetting time with this last year - two vet visits.  No need to separate from others etc.
One grandma and 4 baby Pekins.

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grinling

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2015, 22:21 »
did you take the hen to the vets?

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rufty

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2015, 09:44 »
Yes.
They didn't think there was anything they could do for her and eventually put her to sleep

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grinling

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Re: Bird not recovering from Sour Crop
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2015, 09:57 »
sorry to hear that they didn't suggest antibiotics, but they might not know about chickens or thought it too late or her crop too saggy and therefore untreatable.

How do you store their feed, container and whereabouts?  What is their main food and how long have you had it? What additional food do you give them? Do you hang the feeder/water and how high off the ground are they?

Highly recommend Haynes Manual for Chickens


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