Sour crop - treatment (MoC)?

JillA

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My fault for giving them hand picked grass, but the various smallholder forum members say to tip them upside down and massage to release the impaction, and then others say that is dangerous due to possibly aspirating fluid. What would be the ideal treatment short of taking them to a vet please?
 

MotherOfChickens

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Only had one case of it when they were on very long fogage-I massaged the crop a bit (but if its hard be gentle-maybe 1/2 tsp warm oil), gave them a shovel full of river shingle and some natural yoghurt (to help get rid of any nasties growing) and she was right as rain in 24 hours and all the shingle had gone, small and large!.

Have kept them on very long grass/hay since with plenty of access to grit and stones with no issues. Not sure if the yohurt did anything but they all loved it! I'd not tip her upside down.
 

MotherOfChickens

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I syringed a little into her mouth. If you wrap her in a hand towel you should be able to use a teaspoon to get some in, you wont need a lot. Can you give her some mixed grit or some stones from garden etc? they'll need soluble and insoluble grit if they are having extras (there is some grit in pellets but not enough for tackling stalky grass etc). Keep a close eye on the blockage-if it doesn't completely go fairly quickly I would recommend a vet, they can lose weight quickly if not eating.
 

JillA

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Thanks. I got a little coconut oil and yoghurt into her but TBH there is nothing of her and her crop isn't that huge. They have bought grit available at all times but they have now got a bowl of stones off the yard as well. I did let her out for a bit of a wander for 20 minutes and after getting some bits off the yard she went grazing round the side of the building.
 
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