Why Is My Chicken Throwing Up Brown Liquid? (1 Reason Why + What To Do)

There are a variety of illnesses and conditions that can affect your chicken, some illnesses and conditions are minor but some can be fatal to the bird.

If your chicken is throwing up brown liquid you’d be right to be concerned. This article looks into it. 

Why is my chicken throwing up brown liquid?

Chickens are not known to throw anything up, let alone brown liquid. If your bird is throwing up brown liquid then the bird may have sour crop 

What is sour crop?

Sour crop is a condition that affects the crops of chickens.

When food enters the chicken’s mouth, it travels down the bird’s esophagus and into a pouch-like organ called the crop. The crop is where food is stored before it gets to the bird’s stomachs. 

Chickens develop sour crop when the yeast, Candida albicans, which already exists in the bird’s crop, become overgrown and bloom in the bird’s crop.

This is the same yeast that causes thrush in babies. This yeast already exists in the bird’s crop but issues develop when this bacteria is allowed to bloom. 

If allowed to bloom, the candida albicans will form white patches in the bird’s crop. These white patches can travel up into the bird’s mouth 

The blooming of this yeast can happen after the bird suffers from an impacted crop. An impacted crop is when food gets stuck in the bird’s crop and isn’t able to move down to the rest of the bird’s body.

This stuck food will begin to ferment and the yeast will bloom as a result.

Birds that have sour crop will make gurgling sounds that can be heard from the bird’s cheast area where the crop is. A very putrid, sour, and strong smell will come from the mouth of a bird suffering from sour crop. 

In some cases, this condition will cause the chicken to vomit brown liquid. If any type of fluid comes up from your bird’s beak, brown in color or other, this is a serious sign that there is something wrong with the bird.

Chickens cannot vomit as humans can, if you see your bird vomiting, then what you’re seeing is overflow which is very concerning.

Other causes of sour crop: 

In addition to stuck food fermenting in the bird’s crop and causing sour crop, other causes of sour crop include:

Worms: Worms can get into the bird’s crop and cause sour crop

Antibiotics: If you give your bird antibiotics the antibiotics will kill not only the bad bacteria, but the good bacteria in the bird’s body as well.

Good bacteria is what keeps the Candida albicans in the bird’s crop at a normal level. If good bacteria is killed off then this yeast will bloom.

Injury: If your bird’s crop becomes injured, then this can cause it to delay emptying of the crop. This delay can cause food to start fermenting in the bird’s crop.

What to do:

Getting the brown fluid out of the bird’s crop is the first thing that you’d need to do, do this by tipping the bird over. This needs to be done with great caution or else the bird may aspirate if the fluid gets into the bird’s lungs.

Get into position by sitting or kneeling. Grab your bird and keep her from becoming anxious by wrapping her in a towel, this will keep her wings intact and help you hold her better 

Once you’ve secured the bird, tip her over and get her head to face the ground.

Gently massage the bird’s crop from the bottom of her neck towards the top. The bird should start to release fluid when you do this.

Do this in short intervals, your bird can safely be tipped over and massaged for 15-20 minutes. Once the 15-20 minutes are up move your bird back upright 

This can be done 3 or 4 times a day, you can stop when no more fluid comes out 

Once the fluid is out of her crop, you’d want to clear her crop of any blockages. Massage the crop to get the crop to empty.

Before you massage the bird’s crop, you’d need to keep her from eating and drinking for 12 hours before massaging 

Once the bird is ready, you can massage the crop gently to try to get the food to go down. Move your hand from top to bottom as you massage 

Give her water after the massage and then leave the bird alone for about 12 hours. Make sure that the water that you give her is plain and clear.

When you go back to giving her food again, give her food in small amounts for the first 3-4 meals. 

Giving your bird an anti-fungal medication, like nystatin, will be of help.

If the above does not improve your bird then you’d need to take your bird to the vet. 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in:  Hen Jumping On Other Hens Back,  Chickens Fighting To The DeathWhy Is My Chicken Throwing Up Water?,  Chicken Crouching When Walking,  Hen Fighting Rooster

Why Is My Chicken Throwing Up Brown Liquid? (1 Reason Why + What To Do)
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