The Stress of Keeping Animals

So the last couple of days has been ever so stressful as one of my chickens became ill. I have only had them for a few weeks and they have settled in very well and become very used to me already. They come running when I appear, I must spoil them with bread scraps to much! The Chicken that became ill was Speckle, when I let them out of the coop she was very lethargic, and was dribbling profusely. 

At first I thought it was from the heat, its been very very hot here. So I let her be for a while. In the time I left her alone she had become worse, sitting in the couple not moving and doing that eye thing chickens do when there not well. I picked her up and on her chest was lots of mucus that was extremely smelly. Its was a sour  smell and well I knew something was up then. Luckily my neighbour is a veterinary nurse who also volunteers for a rescue centre and so Speckle was whisked next door. 

So it turns out Speckle has Sour Crop which is an infection of the crop. The crop was empty and she was not eating and drinking so we have had to force feed her a wet mash for the last few days to build up her energy levels as well as some probiotics too. We have also given her some medication which seems to have ridden her of the infection for now. That first evening she looked terrible and I was thinking that we might lose her through the night, but by morning she had perked up alot but was not feeding still. As the days have gone by she has improved greatly and today she has been running around and eating for herself. Happy Days.

What got me was the lack of good information online about Sour Crop. I read various forums and pages all with differing accounts on how to treat it etc.  I expected to have to deal with illness with my flock but i was not expecting to have to deal with it so soon