AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Crop problems in poultry
Sour Crop
The signs for sour crop is a big spongy crop and fowl bird breath.
Sour crop is something that you see when a bird gets a blockage in the base of the crop going into the proventriculus. It could be a week or more before you notice this bulge out in front of them and there crop is nearly dragging on the ground at this point. You will also notice when you pick up the bird and put pressure on the crop that there is a rotten fermenting smell coming from the bird.This also means that the bird may have lost a lot of weight in that week as it would not have absorbed any nutrients, so generally the bird will be poor in weight and health. Now there are a couple of options here as to what to do and the first being.
Option 1
Wrap the bird up in a towel to make her secure so she does not scratch you. Get a 20ml syringe and fill with warm water. Place a piece of thin clear tubing about 15cm long over the end of the syringe(get tubing from a vet). Hold the head of the bird in your left hand gently but securely and open the birds beak and hold it open. Gradually slide this tubing down into the birds crop. Make sure you get the big hole at the back of the neck and not the little one near the tongue to the lungs.You should be able to feel the tubing in her crop. Slowly empty the warm water in and withdraw the tubing.
Then massage the crop for a while trying to break up the contents in the crop. When this is done make sure that the bird is securely wrapped and up end her over a bucket or sink. Gradually make her vomit by massaging the crop. The bird should vomit up all the contents of the crop.If not repeat the process filling the crop with warm water. Leave the bird half an hour, massage and up end again doing this till the crop is empty. Do this slowly and remember you need to also let her have time to breath between massage and a vomit or she will suffocate. Be very careful not to let her take fluid she is vomiting up down into her lungs.That will create other major issues such as inhalation pneumonia. Quiet often it is not the pneumonia that kills them but the bacteria that went into the lungs in the liquid she was vomiting that dose.Once you have emptied the crop completely this way and you are sure there is nothing left in it and I mean not even a grain of seed left. You then need to give her either Nilstat or Mycostatin drops you buy from the chemist for oral thrush in babies. Give a dose of 1ml three times daily for 3 days and then once daily till day 7. I also give Tylan injectable or baytril 50 to them to protect against any complications for a week. Ask your vet for it if you don’t have any. Only give her fresh water after 6 hours. The next morning you need to check the crop again. If it appears there is still sour crop or blockage go to impacted crop instructions and follow how to open up the crop. If she is fine you give her only liquids for the first 24 hours broccoli broth with a teaspoon of olive oil and plenty of water to drink. Now you need to check that she is pooing well as you are trying to flush the toxins out of her body and know that there isn't a blockage still there. After 24 hours for the next week offer her only soft foods mashed banana,sweet potato,pureed fruit and plenty of good natural yoghurt with all the good acidophilous in it also make sure all food is very moist and then you are right to put her back on a normal diet after the end of a week.Make sure you give her plenty of fine grit and gravel as the bird needs to be able to grind up hard food again.
Option 2 which is also used for
Impacted Crop
Signs of an impacted crop, feels hard and distended, head jerking, refusing to move.
You can try the same treatment recommended for sour crop but instead of warm water use olive oil. Personally with an impacted crop I have found it a waste of time.
You will need
Sedative, 20ml syringe, sharp sterile scalpel,bent tip tweezers, gauze, fine sterile needle, fishing line or sutures, betadine or alcohol swabs, a towel to hold the bird in, sterile saline solution.(To make saline 9gms salt to 1 litre boiling water stir till mixed and let cool), rubber gloves, a bright desk lamp and a bucket.This is not for the faint hearted either. Ok now we start. Take you bird and wrap it in a towel firmly but so the crop is exposed. Sedate your bird. Cut the feathers off the crop about 3/4 of the way up the crop. Making sure that you cut a fairly big area of feathers off. Then have a good look at the crop, hey have you forgotten something, put your glasses on. Much easier to see. Ok now your looking for blood vessel. Find an area were it is fairly clear of vessels, now wipe this area very well with your alcohol swab or betadine then take your sterile scalpel and make a cut across the crop about 1 inch long. When you cut you need to cut firmly as you have the skin, muscle and crop to cut. When this is done open the crop with your tweezers and pull up one side of the crop so you can hold it in your fingers to keep it open.Then get your bucket between your knees. I sit to a table with the bucket pinned between the knees and the table and the lamp up close for good light. Now you need to pull all the contents out of the crop with the tweezers slowly and gently till you think the crop is empty. Now get your syringe fill it with warm saline solution pop the syringe into the hole you cut in the crop and fill the crop with saline, massage the crop a little and then work the solution out of the hole into the bucket.You do this till the solution comes out completely clear. Remember to massage from the bottom of the crop up.This will dislodge anything at the base of the crop. This could take 30minutes to do.Once the solution is clear and you are sure there is nothing in the crop and all fluid is out using the gauze wipe all the muck of the bird and dry the outside of the crop. Now you are ready to stitch the bird up. Get you suture or needle and fishing line. First you must stitch the crop up each stitch you do must be tied separately and you will need around 7 to close the crop. After you have done that you then wipe the birds crop with an alcohol swab making sure it is very clean. Next you have to stitch the skin and muscle back up. This will take about 7 stitches all tied separately.Clean the crop with another swab and now place your bird in a warm, clean, dry area where it can be monitored. Do not feed or water for 24 hours. If you are worried about dehydration then you can give subcutaneous fluids under the skin ( on the birds back and where the wings meet his body). Inject sterile saline, about 3mls or cc per side of the bird just under the skin till you form a blister of fluid. The fluid will be absorbed into the birds body quickly. You must keep a close eye on the bird and make sure it is pooing well as it needs to flush out all toxins. After 24 hours and for the next 2 weeks offer her only soft foods mashed banana,sweet potato,pureed fruit, baby food and plenty of good natural yoghurt with all the good acidophilous in it also make sure all food is very moist and then you are right to put her back on a normal diet after the end of 2 weeks. Once again give grit and gravel to eat to grid up food in the crop. Also remove the external stitches.In the first 24 hours after surgery you also need to keep an eye out to make sure the crop is not weeping around the wound. If it is leaking dry it and use some superglue to seal it up pulling the skin together(not your fingers). You may want to put the bird on antibiotic's either Baytril 50 or Tylan injectable for 10 days. Good luck if you ever need to do this it is hard on your hands,eyes and back so make sure you are as comfortable as you can get.I hope this might help someone.It is also possible to have sour crop and an impacted crop at the same time.

Yvonne
Poultryonthegwydir
This was an article I did last year for a newsletter.