We noticed today that one of our Silkies is sitting around not looking well. My son picked her up and said she is very light, but her crop is huge and soft. It's like a balloon full of liquid and hangs down. What causes this and what can we do for her?
HELP! strange problem, what can it be?
It sounds like crop stasis:
http://backyardchickens.yuku.com/topic/12765
You can google "chicken crop stasis" and find ways to try to help her.....
Is that the same as sour crop?
Not exactly, but they can both go together. In crop stasis, the crop stops moving food down through the digestive system....which can lead to sour crop.
I found one site that says for sour crop to hold the chicken upside down and gently massage the crop to release the fluid. Then feed the chicken yogurt with live cultures in some layer feed or mash and give it water with vinegar in it. I may try this.
The crop is almost as big as the Silkie herself, it is huge.
Well it's actually about the size of a baseball, but she is small so it seems bigger. Poor thing.
poor baby. I hope that fixes her
Well we tried it and a little fluid came out and then nothing. I massaged and massaged but no more than probably 1 tbsp of fluid came out.
So we let her upright for a while and tried again, but she fought it and nothing came out the second time.
It is very squishy and you can feel some grain in it.