chicken with sour crop--how often should I massage it?

[traci808]

Hi, All,

We have a hen with an impacted/sour crop. I diagnosed it because she was lethargic and getting picked on by our other 3 hens (who are normally a peaceful bunch). I felt her crop and it was the size of a tennis ball and the consistency of a water balloon. I sat her in my lap and massaged her crop a bit yesterday afternoon. Nothing came up. This morning I went down to check on the girls and I lifted her up and gave her a gentle kneading and she began vomiting a sour, acidic, nasty smelling liquid.

I put her in a puppy crate lined with dog pee pads (that's all I have on me at the moment), I found a small box and filled it with pine shavings and placed it in the corner, and I covered half the crate with a towel. I also gave her a 3 cup chicken waterer (I mixed in 1 teaspoon of baking soda), whole wheat bread (no crusts) soaked in olive oil--she ate some of it and then stepped in the tupperware, so I dumped it on top of a hanging container filled with grit that is also inside the crate. I went down an hour later, took her out, lifted her up, and massaged her again. Tons of vomit. I didn't want to overtax her so I put her back in the crate.

My main question is: how aggressively should I be massaging her crop to induce vomiting? Or should I stop now that we broke the seal, so to speak. I do not feel comfortable hanging her upside down as I have seen some people recommend online.

Also, is there anything else I should be doing or that I should be looking for? Is a sour crop a symptom of a larger problem? This is our first sick chicken, so I don't know what to do. I've been reading posts online, but it's a little overwhelming. She's a little over 2 years old.


Thanks in advance for your help,
Traci

 

[Suzie]

You must hang her upside down or there is the risk that she will ingest the fluid into her lungs...a few seconds at a time is fine...give her time to recover and you can then repeat treatment a few hours later until you are happy that she has vomited a reasonable amount...do not give ACV ( apple cider vinegar ) and keep her inside for two-three days you can add baking soda to her drinking water at one tablespoon per gallon of water, give her soft foods also.

Sour crop will normally remedy itself once you have given the chicken the above treatment...

 

[traci808]

Thank you for replying! Forgive my ignorance, I have read elsewhere that hanging her upside down and inducing vomiting is what might cause the fluid to go into her lungs. This is the first I have heard of upright vomiting possibly resulting in fluid getting into her lungs. Since she has already vomited upright twice today, what do I do now?

 

[Suzie]

Try reading this informative post about all types of crop issues...

www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/06chicken-anatomy-crop-impacted-crop-sour.html

This should answer all of your questions

 

[Suzie]

If the post does not respond...type in sour crop...just tried it myself and you may need to type in sour crop and a lot of information is given

 

[traci808]

Thank you. I will go to the store today to buy a syringe. Tomorrow morning I will attempt to flush the crop with an epsom salt solution. I'll hold off on massaging the crop for now. I'm worried I may have done some damage this morning because she vomited while upright and maybe sort of horizontal. I don't detect any raspy breathing or anything, which I hope means she didn't aspirate any fluid into her lungs... I removed the grit & oil-soaked bread and I provided some plain yogurt (which she went for). As I checked on her, I noticed that her eyes are pretty bloodshot. Is that a symptom of anything specific?