Do you separate your chicken when she has sour crop??

[aprilbos]

Looking for feedback on whether or not you separate your birds when treating for sour crop. We just had a blissful month of healthy girls. This morning Blacky (Australorp 1 1/2 yr layer) has a watery swollen crop once again (crop was checked before and after keeping her in a cage overnight). The last round ended up causing big issues when it came to reintroducing her back into the coop. I don't want to experience that again (she doesn't either!). I can remove her to give meds and treatment but hoping there has been successful treatment of sour crop / impacted crop while keeping birds in the same coop. I'm not concerned about it being contagious. She is a scavenger and eating constantly which is my only concern with the wood chips, dirt, sand, roots, bugs, worms on the coop floor. She's a chicken, she's going to eat these things, right?

Thanks for your feedback and advice

 

[Eggcessive]

No I don’t separate for crop problems. I prefer to grab them off the roost early in the morning or after dark to treat them. If more frequent treatments or special foods/medicines are needed, I place them in dog crates or pens, with food and water, and keep them with the chickens. That way they can be caught easily, and then they can be let out afterward, or to roost with the others.

The ones I have had the most problems with were low pecking order chickens who go around eating things that the other chickens do not eat. Even with multiple locations of food and water, I had one hen who ate bark, algae,and twigs. She ultimately died of gizzard blockage and her crop was also full and hard. Making sure they always have granite poultry grit available to help digest grasses and other foods is helpful.

 

[aprilbos]

Thank you for the information and. That will work well for me.

How the heck can you break them of those bad eating habbits? It's maddening, mine is also the lowest. I caught it early this time at least.

 

[Eggcessive]

You would think that with having a decent fresh feed and clean water out for them at all waking hours inside and outside the coop would be all that is necessary. I often wonder if they are lacking in some mineral, but it usually justs affects a single chicken, while others do fine.