The good news is that Cookie needed to go anyway. She hadn't laid an egg in nearly a year. She was loud and obnoxious. Even so, it was a blow to not be able to do anything for her. For me though, it was quick. She died Saturday afternoon.
Reading information long into the night on sour crop, I am worried for my other hens. Sour crop is usually an indicator of an underlying infection or problem, not always, but usually. Did Cookie just have something wrong with her, that manifested in her not laying- and the culminated in her death? Or was there something else that suddenly caused the infection. It's hard to say, but I am now worried about my remaining hens' very low egg production. Perhaps they are all ill with a mystery disease that I can't discover.
Another cause of sour crop is poor sanitary conditions. While I feel that my hen house is clean - I am going to make some changes to the food an water area. I'm going to put in planking so I can see the spilled food rather than it being buried in bedding. Moldy food is often associated with sour crop- perhaps there is an underlying problem there.
Another cause of sour crop is poor sanitary conditions. While I feel that my hen house is clean - I am going to make some changes to the food an water area. I'm going to put in planking so I can see the spilled food rather than it being buried in bedding. Moldy food is often associated with sour crop- perhaps there is an underlying problem there.
Only time will tell if this was isolated or a serious problem.
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