update: 1 wk old chick- swollen crop

[mamaem]

I'm a new poster (although longtime lurker), and the kids and I got our first batch of five chicks from the feed store 4 days ago. The chicks had arrived at the store that day, so I'm guessing this chick is one week old now.

Last night I noticed that one of them (a Barnevelder) has a swollen area where her crop is. It's swollen enough that the skin looks shiny and red where the fluff doesn't cover. I read a bunch of the advice on here (thank you!) and did a little massaging, both with her upright and upsidedown. Nothing was regurgitated (although maybe I'm not doing it right).

The swollen crop is soft and doughy and there is a quiet but audible crinkling sound I can hear coming from the crop as I manipulate it!

I've added chick grit for them and she ate it and is drinking, but seems to be hiding under the heating pad cave much more than the others.

No crud on vent and the kids saw her poop this morning.

Their brooder box is filled with Dry Den bedding pellets, because I'm a newbie and that's what they used at the feed store (plus I use it with my rabbits), but yesterday their water had been knocked a bit and the drinking tray was filled with the pellets, which had turned to sawdust mush. I'm worried that this chick ate a bunch of the sawdust mush in the couple hours before we saw that and cleaned it out.

Needless to say, I'm changing the bedding out to wood shavings.

I haven't isolated her and I'm still allowing her access to food. There is the chick boost electrolites and probiotic powders in their water.

Should I try harder to get this chick to vomit? Any advice? Thank you!

 

[mamaem]

Forgot to add: those photos are from first thing in the morning today (I noticed the bulge last night).

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Is the chick acting normal?

My WCBP bantam had a crop I was able to see well when he was very little like that. The first time we saw it, was very disturbing like it was going to explode or something. Thought that guy my die...

Turns out, was just easier to see than anybody else's and all was normal. He thrived.

I see you are brooding with a lamp which means the chick has access to feed all through the night, and therefor probably wouldn't have an empty crop this morning.

If you aren't seeing other signs... your chick is fine.

Don't isolate her unless she is getting bumped, trampled, or pecked on. It will stress her more.

Just make sure she is getting up and drinking/eating when the others are. If she stays behind sleeping, problem. Also, maybe pay attention and see if you can see that specific chick poo.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

One other thing... I don't know how you would make a chick vomit. Chickens do not have a gag reflex. So when they need to get something out of their throat, they will shake their head.

 

[mamaem]

Thanks a lot! For this photo, I had a heat lamp on, but we are actually not using it (I only had it on to pre-warm the new bedding that I was about to put in). I'm using a heating pad cave in the brooder and it works really well. Have a thermometer in it and it's staying 92 degrees, so the chicks come and go from it as they please. Overnight, it's totally dark, so I don't think they're eating overnight. That's part of why I was especially concerned that the crop would still be so large this morning.

I'll keep an eye on her behavior.

 

[mamaem]

Well, I don't know about the vomiting either, but it seems like on some of the other impacted crop threads I've read, people have said that when they massage their chicken's crop while it's upside down, it vomits. But mine didn't... and I don't even know if I should be trying for that!

 

[junebuggena]

Remove feed for a night, and check the crop first thing in the morning. If it's back to normal, there is no issue, just a piggy little chick.

 

[mamaem]

Remove feed for a night, and check the crop first thing in the morning. If it's back to normal, there is no issue, just a piggy little chick.

Thanks, Junebuggena! Is it ok for all the chicks to go without food overnight, or should I isolate this one with the swollen crop? I don't think they were eating overnight because it was totally dark and I'm guessing they were under their heating pad cave (they were silent, at least).

 

[junebuggena]

It's fine if they go without food overnight. Once they snuggle under the heating pad for the night, they don't come back out. And chicks raised by a broody hen don't eat at night either.

 

[mamaem]

It's fine if they go without food overnight. Once they snuggle under the heating pad for the night, they don't come back out. And chicks raised by a broody hen don't eat at night either.

OK, thanks, so that tells me that this chick didn't eat overnight (because it was dark and I'm using the heating pad cave set-up), so does that make it a bigger problem that her crop was so swollen this morning?

Or should I just watch her behavior, as EggSighted4Life suggested, and make sure she's eating/drinking the same as the others (and not worry so much about the bulging crop).

Thanks a lot for helping me work this out!