The Poultry Keeper

Lisleoise

The last one of my four original Marans died over night. A few weeks ago she had been very poorly: wobbly, listless etc. All the chooks were wormed with Flubenvet (for the second time this year) and the vets gave me a cocci treatment which they all had. After a week of treatment and isolation she perked right up and was back to normal and re-integrated with the flock. During this time she had moulted a little and was putting on new neck feathers.

A few weeks on and yesterday she went very wobbly and listless again, hardly moving at all during the day, sitting on the grass and holding her wings out a little. I don't think she had eaten or drunk at all. I decided to isolate her in the shed last night on a bed of straw with water and food right next to her which she didn't touch. As I had a pair of scales in the shed I weighed her - 1.1kg live weight which seemed very low considering her breed and she certainly felt very light and skinny.

This morning, as I'd half expected, she was dead. I decided to investigate a bit and plucked some of her chest feathers off revealing that her crop was very swollen. I decided to open her up and found that it was very full of undigested mixed grains and corn (that my chooks have as treats at the end of the day). This must have been there for at least 48 hours when she last had some. There was quite a sour smell but I imagine that this is digestive juices.

She was about 3 years old, maybe a little more. What could this have been; a blockage; sour crop; old age??

Lisleoise · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:12 am Post subject:

M**de!!

Having done loads of Googling it seems she died of sour crop and I could have done something about it had I known.

I guess we all have to learn by our mistakes but it's a shame when something has to suffer as a consequence Crying or Very sad

NannyP · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:16 pm Post subject:

Don't give yourself a hard time.....hens are good at hiding when they are unwell....and sour crop isn't that easy to spot.

I think you're incredibly brave to open her up, there is no way I could do that, so well done.

Lisleoise · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject:

I wanted to be a pathologist as a child Wink

I just love watching Silent Witness and the like Laughing

NannyP · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 3:04 pm Post subject:

Looks like you still have plenty of time to achieve your dream job......you're still young. You can do OU courses abroad Very Happy

Libertine01 · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 12 Location: derbyshire

Can i ask, What are the symptoms of sour crop and what is the treatment options?

I ask because my 2 blue Cochin's have large crops but i thought that was because they are greedy and they are HUGE birds.

Lisleoise · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

My hen was very subdued, not moving much, very wobbly on her feet, not eating or drinking, holding her wings out Sad

Pekinout · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 1219 Location: Cornwall

The crop will look quite large, but the best way to see if it's sour crop or just a full normal crop is to smell the hens breath. If it smells putrid and sour then it's sour crop.

You can massage the crop to break up the mass of fermenting food, try dropping a little water into her beak or olive oil to grease it inside then massage and hold her upside down in your arms supporting her body weight while massaging the crop in a downward motion towards her head. She'll bring up the mass by being sick (they're not really being sick, just regurgitating the food).

Once you feel the crop is empty or almost empty, settle her down in a warm box and let her rest.

A chook with sour crop if caught in time can survive and live a normal life.

Long grass or large lumps of greenery can get lodged in the crop and if it isnt ground down by the gizzard (grit swallowed by chook grinds food down in crop), then it goes sour and ferments making the chook very unwell.