crop with fluid

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chickenfan

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One of my my bantams suddenly looks off colour, and when I examined her crop and massaged it a bit a whole lot of fluid came shooting out of her mouth. Is this sour crop? It smelt a bit yeasty, but not a strong smell. I will try garlic and probiotics, but confusingly Chickenvet recommends antibiotics as well for sour crop.
 
Antibiotics aren't a treatment for sour crop as far as I'm aware chickenfan and I can't honestly see how they would help matters. Just to check, the fluid that came out wasn't clear was it?
 
Thank you for asking Dinosaw. The crop was full of fluid when I felt it, and yes, I think fairly clear when it came out.
 
In that case just to be on the safe side check to make sure the bird isn't showing a blue combe and a swollen belly which could point to ascites.
 
No, she looks healthy otherwise. I've rung BHWT vet and she says sour crop is a sign of something else wrong in the digestive system. She suggested giving her metacam pain killer and to continue with the probiotics. She has found that often this helps them relax and clears the digestive system. It hasn't worked for my Australorps bantam so far and she is very miserable. She has rather a restless character, always wanting to be somewhere different from where she is - all over the place but she was getting mated to a bare back when with the cockerel. Right from very young she's been a very lively bird.
 
I have had one, when off colour, gag up a load of water. It seemed that she had drunk to much for some reason. Has her crop emptied at all since? Is she eating?
 
Thanks Rick. Her crop is no longer full of water. I'm keeping on with the probiotics and anti-inflamatories (metacam - dose is 1ml per kg of bird).
 
Her crop is now empty, but she hasn't started eating again and is drinking much less. Her droppings are black and tarry. I can't think what can have gone wrong and not sure what to do.
 
I haven't got a clue really but just guessing:
If she isn't eating then the black droppings might be cecal as I think this is how they dispose of non-soluable waste (as apposed to fiber and urine.)
She may be tempted by some fish - mixed with some crumble maybe.
Is she purring? Not a happy purr maybe but it's a sound mine make on the nest sometimes.
I'd only use the Metacam for a brief time I think to control inflammation but I don't know - never used it on a chicken.
 
I think I'm giving up on her if she's not better tomorrow. Its too long to feel so poorly.
 
Crop with fluid could point to a digestive impaction Chickenfan. This could be due to an internal growth as well as indigestible objects (cherry stones, long grass, too much grit etc). The black sticky poo may be from internal bleeding.

We found Metacam dosed as the syringe says, in Kg bodyweight, was far too strong (had one heart attack and a totally spaced out cockerel) and so we halved that dose. Seems fine and just as effective. But I wouldn't be using it in this case.

I wouldn't worry too much about the eating at this stage but drinking is vital. A wet mash of rearers pellets may encourage her?
 
Unfortunately she had a massive flapping fit and died in the night. She wasn't having metacam any more. She was completely uninterested in food or even being syringed with fluids.

Strange thing death. She looked quite strong in herself. I think you are right Chris and she had some internal bleeding.
 
Sorry to hear that Chickenfan. Seems chickens can go from completely healthy to dead almost overnight. We lost a lovely cuckoo Marans a few weeks back- laying one day, drinking huge amounts of water the next and then gone! She went through a phase last year of laying weird eggs then this year she was fine except for blood spots on the yolks, so clearly internally she was awry. I thing the problem stems from breeding with pullets and is a practice I would strongly advise against. We have two Buff Orpingtons from another breeder with egg laying disorders -fine in the first year then soft shells and nothing. If the original breeding hens were older this problem would not have been passed on and now I think his whole strain is fundamentally flawed.
 
I am sorry to hear that Chris - about your Buff Orpington laying problems and the loss of your Cuckoo Marans. I think to get good stock one really needs to breed oneself and as you say from proven two-year old + birds. All of this takes time and patience and I think the majority of people in-breed as well. I'm finding my own-bred birds so much stronger from the start and they all hatch without any issues even in the incubator.
 
What do you think killed your cuckoo marans Chris? The symptoms sound very similar to my australorps. Do they often eat unsuitable things in spite of all that testing with their beaks? I buried my girl this evening. She looked in glowing health, plump and shiny feathers, and surely the cockerel can't have been wrong to make her his favourite, and choosing a healthy bird to breed with?
 
Inbreeding is rife in both egg and bird sales. I could make a fair bit selling hatching eggs if I wanted, take the Thuringians for instance, they take a lovely photo and if anyone visited they would find them lovely birds. I did have a cockerel who was brother to my girls, if I had kept him I could have sold fertile hatching eggs which would be inbred but by the time the faults become apparent it is a year on and too late to take issue, if I'm selling on eBay then I would already have positive feedback from the buyer. With regards to selection I'm not so sure how a cock selects his favourite hen, the Count has tread both of my black Araucanas to the point that I have had to fit them both with saddles. They are his hatch mates, they also have sight issues which makes them easy to catch but I think it is based on fertility more than anything, he treads one of the exbatts that still lays and studiously ignores the non layer.
 
How interesting that they probably know which hens are most fertile Dinosaw.
 
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