Vomiting isn’t a good sign for anyone, whether it’s a human, a dog, a cat, or a chicken. Food, or anything else, coming up the digestive tract usually means that the digestive tract is rejecting food, or, it means that there is something wrong with the digestive system.
If your chicken is vomiting white liquid you’d be right to worry, this article looks at why this happens.
Chicken vomiting white liquid
Chickens can vomit foods, and other substances, but this doesn’t happen in the same way as it does in humans.
When chickens throw up, food isn’t violently forced out of their digestive system, rather, their beaks will slowly let substances out in a non-violent way. If your chicken is vomiting white liquid then your bird is likely suffering from sour crop.
The crop is an organ within the bird’s body where food is kept. After food passes the crop, it is taken into the bird’s other stomachs and is digested. This organ can be found just below the bird’s neck.
When the crop is empty, you won’t be able to see or feel it, it will be flat and empty. The crop becomes full after the bird has eaten and empties as food moves down the bird’s digestive system.
If the crop does not empty, and food stays in the crop, the contents of the crop will ferment and a bacterial/yeast growth will develop. When this growth develops in the bird then the bird is considered to have sour crop.
If the sour crop is more advanced, the bird’s mouth will be white and a white foam or liquid may leak out of the bird’s mouth.
This white liquid or foam is very acidic and will burn the bird’s throat on the way up
If the white fluid coming out of the bird’s mouth is accompanied by a foul smell, then the bird almost certainly has sour crop. This foul-smelling odor is where the name “sour crop” comes from. This odor smells sour, like sauerkraut
What to do:
The first thing you need to do is isolate your bird, isolating the bird will keep it from infecting other birds and allow it to recover from its sluggish, stressed, and low energy state.
You’d also need to give the bird medication to help drain its crop, you can only feed the bird food after the crop has drained, any food that you give the bird before the crop drains will not go down.
There are a variety of remedies that can be used to treat sour crop:
Baking soda: The acidic liquid/foam in the bird’s beak, throat, and crop needs to be neutralized, baking soda is a base and will neutralize the bird’s throat.
To treat the bird, create a solution by adding a tablespoon of baking soda into a few liters of water and mixing well. Let your bird drink the solution or syringe the mixture into your bird’s throat
Apple cider vinegar: This natural remedy is a natural antifungal so it will fight the yeast infection in your bird. Do not serve this to your bird as is, dilute the vinegar in the bird’s drinking water and allow the bird to drink it.
If the bird isn’t interested in drinking this solution, you can syringe it directly into the bird’s beak.
Garlic water: This strong-smelling vegetable is both good for human health and helpful for treating sour crop in chickens. Garlic water has antifungal properties, and, it is an antibiotic.
To prepare garlic water for chickens, crush fresh garlic and leave it in the bird’s water dish. The garlic will seep into the water. Serve this to your bird after the garlic has seeped in.
2% Miconazole cream: If the above treatments don’t seem to be working for your bird, then you may need to try a commercial treatment for your bird.
Miconazole cream is used for feminine hygiene but can be used to treat sour crop in your bird. It is used to kill yeast in people and is able to kill yeast in your bird’s crop.
To treat, apply the cream into your bird’s mouth for 7 days. It is safe for consumption
Visiting the vet: If none of the above-mentioned solutions work for your bird then you’d need to take your bird to a vet, a certified avian vet if you can, your bird may have an underlying issue. The vet will examine your chicken, diagnose the bird and suggest treatment for it
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken Leaking Clear Liquid, Yellow Stuff Coming Out Of Chicken, Forgot To Turn Eggs In The Incubator