What Is Sour Crop In Chickens?
What is sour crop in chickens? Sour crop is a condition where a chicken’s crop, which acts like a holding pouch for food, fails to empty regularly and yeast begins to grow.
Here’s an example: you’ve picked up your chicken and suddenly smell a noxious odor coming out of her mouth. She’s also acting lethargic, losing weight, and not eating or drinking much. These are all classic symptoms of sour crop.
The crop is an essential part of a chicken’s digestive system. While the crop functions normally most of the time, sometimes a hen will develop sour crop or impacted crop. Both conditions need immediate attention. In this article we’ll focus on sour crop, and how to treat it.
What Is a Chicken’s Crop?
The crop is a weak muscle pouch located on the right side of the breast muscle. The crop stores food temporarily until it can be broken down and digested in the gizzard. So once a chicken swallows a bite of food, it goes down the esophagus and is stored in the crop until it moves on to the gizzard.
According to Hobby Farms, chickens have a crop because of their status as a prey animal. It takes time to both forage and chew up food, and the longer a chicken is out looking for food the greater chance that it will be picked off by a predator. So, chickens have a crop that allows them to eat a lot of food at once, and then digest it later on when they’re in a safe location.
You can feel your chicken’s crop only after she’s eaten, when it’s full of food. Pick her up with her beak facing forward and gently feel for a swollen, firm lump on the right side of the breastbone. Again, do this gently. If you squeeze the crop it can push the food back up the esophagus, causing her to throw up. Squeezing the crop can also cause the chicken to inhale the food into her lungs, which can be fatal.
Normally, the crop fills up and empties several times throughout the day. When the crop is functioning as it should, it will be full at night and then empty first thing in the morning. However, sometimes a chicken can develop sour crop.
What Is Sour Crop in Chickens?
Sour crop occurs when the crop fails to empty entirely, and yeast (Candida albicans) begins to grow and consume the food that’s still in there.
Sour crop can often occur after an impacted crop, but it can occur just on its own. This condition is slightly more common in younger birds, or birds that are sick or recovering from an illness. A healthy adult bird can develop sour crop from eating moldy or rotten food or feed, from eating stringy grass, or if they develop worms (like the thread worm which affects digstion). They can also consume the Candida albicans fungus from eating feces.
Sour Crop Symptoms
There are several symptoms of sour crop:
- Lethargy
- An awful smell coming from the chicken’s mouth, like sour milk
- Disinterest in normal activities like feeding of foraging
- Weight loss
- White patches inside the mouth
- Fluid coming out of her beak
- Watery, brownish droppings
- Stunted growth in chicks
How to Treat Sour Crop
There are few things you can do to treat sour crop.
1. Mix a Copper Sulfate Solution
Using a treatment from Gail Damerow’s book, “The Chicken Health Handbook“, Hobby Farm recommends mixing 1/2 lb. of copper sulfate and 1/2 cup of vinegar into 1/2 gallon of water. Put this mixture into a container and label it clearly so you know what it is. Next, add 1 tablespoon of this solution to each gallon of water for your chickens.
2. Treat With Epsom Salt
Damerow and Hobby Farm also recommend that you flush your chicken’s system with Epsom salt.
Dissolve one teaspoon of Epsom salt in two tablespoons of water. Gently squirt or pour this solution into your chicken’s mouth twice a day, for two to three days, until the chicken has recovered.
3. Massage the Crop
The Happy Chicken Coop states that if the chicken is in the early stages of sour crop, you might be able to treat the condition with gentle massage. The massage will encourage the food to move out of the crop.
First, isolate the chicken from the rest of the flock and withhold food and water for at least 12 hours. Several times throughout the day, gently massage the crop, starting at the top and moving towards the bottom. After 12 hours, offer water but no food. If the crop feels flat and empty after this then give the chicken small amounts of healthy and easily digestible treats like scrambled eggs or yogurt with some layer feed mixed in.
4. Treat Water With Apple Cider Vinegar
In very early or mild cases, Poultry DVM states that you can treat the condition by adding apple cider vinegar to the water and changing the diet. Add one tablespoon of ACV to each gallon of water.
5. Try Treating With Herbs
There are several natural herbs that might help treat sour crop in chickens. Two of them are meadowsweet and sage.
If you have either of these two herbs growing on your property, gather a handful and infuse them in boiling water for at least 20 minutes. Take care to keep the cup or kettle covered so the volatile oils contained in the leaves don’t escape. Once the herbs are done steeping let the tea cool and then gently squirt some into your chicken’s mouth. Administer another dose in an hour, and then more throughout the day.
If the chicken still appears to be in distress, move on to #6.
6. Call the Vet
If your hen has an advanced case of sour crop (is lethargic and has stopped eating and drinking), you might need to call your poultry vet. Your vet might recommend a treatment with antifungal medication like Nystatin.
The vet can also manually empty the crop by turning the bird upside down and draining the fluid. This is an extremely dangerous procedure to perform if you don’t know what you’re doing. Incorrectly draining the crop can cause the chicken to inhale the fluid, which is fatal. I can only recommend that you let your vet do this instead of trying it yourself. You can find a poultry vet near you through Poultry DVM’s searchable database.
How to Prevent Sour Crop
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” -Benjamin Franklin
The best way to deal with sour crop is not to have to deal with sour crop. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to lesson the chances that your chickens will come down with this condition.
1. Sour Crop Spreads in Dirty Coops
Because chickens can ingest the Candida albicans fungus through feces, it pays to keep your coop as clean as possible. This is especially important when you already have a bird come down with sour crop. There’s a decent chance that the chicken ingested the fungus somewhere on your farm or homestead, so your first step should be to completely clean out the coop so the rest of your flock doesn’t pick it up as well.
2. Give ACV or Probiotics in Water
Your entire flock will benefit if you add apple cider vinegar or a probiotic solution to their drinking water. You can find inexpensive probiotic solution at your local co-op or feed store, at Tractor Supply, or on Amazon.
3. Moldy Feed Can Cause Sour Crop
Another way to prevent sour crop is to keep your chicken feed fresh and out of moisture. Invest in a watertight container to hold feed, rather than just leaving it in the bag. We use galvanized steel trash cans and they work well for keeping the moisture out. However, you could use large plastic bins or garbage cans. Just make sure the lid fights tightly so that rodents and moisture can’t get in.
Last Word
No one wants to see their chicken come down with an illness, which is why taking steps to prevent sour crop is always better than treating it once it has occurred. Simple steps like keeping your coop clean and offering fresh, healthy feed will go a long way towards maintaining a healthy flock.
I’d love to hear back from you. Have any of your chickens ever come down with sour crop? How did you treat the condition?
