Sour Crop in Pigeons

Sour crop in pigeons can be quite common and is usually linked with the poor grit or the consumption of bad grains.

The term “sour crop” generally refers to an infection in the crop or digestive tract. The infection causes the crop to shut-down and any food content in the crop to turn “sour”.

Additionally, the hand feeding of pet birds such as parrots, especially young birds has been known to increase the risk of infection.

Symptoms

Contaminated birds often show the following signs:

Won’t eat anything
Open the beak, crop smells if it’s sour
Lose a lot of weight
Crop fills with water
Adult pigeons may pull out feathers
Frequent Vomiting – This vomit can have a quite putrid odour.
In less serious instances, thrush will show as just small whitish spots in the throat, which is often mistaken for canker.

Prevention

(Credit: Gretchen E Kaufman)

Plenty of good quality grit at all times, a good diet and corn that isn’t mouldy.

Sources:
https://www.siegelpigeons.com/asked-sourcrop.html
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/crop-infections-in-birds

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2 comments

Arshon says 11/06/2018

I have a bird with a similar symptom of sauer crop but instead of the crop area filling with water it feels with air I tried using syringe to extract the air on a daily basis but it continues to fill back up. Do you have any suggestions on how to treat this

Racing Pigeon Sport says 02/09/2018

Are the pigeons droppings okay? If they are, you need to puncture the crop with a pin. Don’t worry it won’t damage the pigeon, but it will release the air pressure. The pigeon has a faulty valve in the crop itself.

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Symptoms

Prevention