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I need some help, I think one of my hens has sour crop. She is making funny neck movements and is being sick the stuff that she is bring up brown and smells . Would like any advise on how to treat?

hello tiffany!
it does sound like your henny has sour crop! i have dealt with this before but have forgotten what route i took because there are several things you can do, but i have heard from other chicken keepers that a live natural yogurt help kill the bacteria in the crop. Sounds weird i know!! But some have said it to be affective.

thing i can remember is that i did help my chook by tipping and massaging the crop to get it all out, obviously giving the hen a break to breath. Not a pleasant thing for them to get at all!!!

Hope i have been helpful lol, and hopefully some others on here can give you some more advice

Amy xxx

Thanks, I read on the Internet that garlic is also good mixed with the yogurt., so have been giving this to her since yesterday afternoon - no sign of improvement yet. Any idea how long I should give this to her?

ACV is a better treatment to give her Tiffany, birds don't tollerate milk based products well as they are lactose intolleratnt, so i would try that rather than carry on with yoghurt, it obviously isn't helping all that much. Amy is correct in saying you really need to tip her up-side-down, and massage the crop to get it out, this will help her recover much quicker, then give her some normal feed for a few days, avoiding long grass or tough stuff to digest. Always make sure your birds have some grit available ( mixed grit is best, with both soluble and non-soluble to help with egg shells and digestion) to help with the grinding action which takes place in the gizzard. The crop is just a 'bag' to hold food before it tracks into the gizzard for grinding and digesting. Sometimes it gets impacted from long grass, and this is when it ferments, causing sour crop. But ACV (apple cider vinegar) is very good and acts as a pro-biotic, natural wormer, as well as a whole host of other benefits. (dosage rates, 25mls per litre of water) Some birds do suffer with sour crop, usually very old birds, or very young birds because the crop wall muscles aren't greatly developed. Garlic doesn't really do anything for the crop as such, but is good for respiritory complaints, and joints. Hope this helps, good luck with your hen.
JubesX

Hi Jubes

Thanks for the info. Have moved onto ACV .Lets hope this helps, her crop was not so big this morning so hoping we have turned a corner.

Tiffany