Raising BackYard Chickens – Chicken Sour Crop, Prevention And Treatment

A chicken's crop is just below its neck and at the center of its chest. This is the chicken's food storage and also where the first stage of digestion takes place. Often, a chicken eats more than it could digest, when that happens the chicken develops a sour crop.

Detection and Symptoms

You would know if the chicken has sour crop if there is a bulge at the center of the chest of the chicken (often bigger than a gulf ball) making the chicken very uncomfortable and moving the head in a funny sort of way. When you open the beak, there is often a sour, foul smell. When you touch the chickens crop and there is that hard yet squishy feeling, sour crop is setting in if it is not yet impacted. What complicates this is that even when the chicken appears to be lethargic; it will still try to eat even when the crop is full, then the chicken suffers more.