[Jomtie]

I think Margot (our 10 month old 'broken' chicken that completely stopped laying 3 months ago) now has sour crop to add to her woes! My OH has felt her crop and says it feels as if it is full of liquid. She is definitely not feeling well and wouldn't even look at the yoghurt or corn tonight. My 4 hens get a tablespoon of live yoghurt every night and ACV in their water, so I'm surprised that she suffering with this. She does seem to be the only one that has had any health problems, so I'm wondering if we should make the final decision to send her to the big coop in the sky?

[jhub]

Hello Jomtie,
Sorry to hear about Margot and her problems. It can be a difficult and personal decision deciding when to cull a bird. Sometimes it is straightforward if the level of suffering is great and treatment not possible or practical (although emotions are a different matter entirely)
 Your situation is slightly different as you have a chook with a potentially treatable problem(sour crop), she is young but is no longer laying eggs. She might be a pet chicken which will also influence the decision.
 Alternatively if she is only one of three hens and you are unable to increase the flock numbers the loss of egg production might be the deciding factor.
I'm sure you have the support of many chicken keepers on this forum who have faced this difficult decision.
Here is a link to sour crop
 http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=4345.msg48355#msg48355
Good luck

[Beano]

Hi,
Is this the same chicken that you suspect that she has kidney problems?
If so it does sound very similar to the problem my chicken has. Had she been drinking before your other half felt her crop? Mine drinks so much in the morning that her crop is full of water, so much so that it spills out of her beak when she goes to feed. She has had one course of anti-biotics and her poos do seem to have got better. But when I see how much water she drinks it's no wonder her poos are so wet. I have put Avipro plus in the water as suggested by  helens-hens which means that she is getting some goodness in her through the water. Bu
Mine is eating better now and seems to have picked up and the vet. was quite pleased with her on Friday last.
Try feeling her crop later in the day to see if it's the same. By the time I had taken mine to the vet. her crop was fine.
Hope this helps and good luck to your little hen.

[Jomtie]

Thanks for the advice. She is a pet chicken so I wouldn't cull her just because she has stopped laying. I am worried though that she seems to have recurring problems and I'm worried that she might pass something nasty on to the other three. Her crop feels better after 36 hours of segregation and some live yoghurt with mashed banana. I also gave her a tiny bit of high quality cat food to get a bit of protein into her. Her poo is green  but is solid, so I'm hoping that she picks up over the next day or so.