Impacted crop in 1 week old chick

[Imprezznu]

Brand new chicken mom here and need some advice please! We got 6 baby chicks from Wilco last Wednesday and they were all active and doing great. We set up a brooder for them in a 27 gallon tote, put paper towels down along with some straw, a brooder plate, food (chick starter w/ chick grit) and water. They were good for days. I added chick grit each day because I read that if they had straw (which they love to kick and peck… and possibly eat) it was a good idea to add grit to prevent them from being stopped ups everything was good until 2 nights ago.

We noticed our Cornish cross chick Daisy and one of our barred rocks had full crops. We have them olive oil (as much as they’d let us, which wasn’t much) and waited 10 minutes and then gently massaged them. Yesterday morning Daisy was doing great, along with 4 of the others but I noticed the barred rock was hiding under the brooder and not active. I tried giving her more oil but she just wouldn’t take any. She was lethargic. I held her and just knew she wasn’t going to make it. She died 2 hours later and we were absolutely heart broken.

A bit later my daughter and I noticed that all of them had enlarged crops! We of course were very scared! I scoured the internet trying to find what might have caused it in all the chicks and saw that too much grit could be the culprit. I immediately took them off the grit and removed the food at night. This morning Daisy’s crop was still a little full but much better than last night (it was really hard and full last night). And the other 4 chicks had went down almost completely. However throughout the day Daisy’s got bigger again. We limited her food intake and only provided water to her in their area. We let her eat a little today and continued to massage her crop every few hours. After not letting her have food and only water her crop ballooned up and was all squishy from the water, so we removed the water for a little bit. They’re all still getting water we just aren’t letting her gorge on it. She’s still having poops and they look pretty normal (at least from what I’ve seen of baby chick poop so far). I’m just at a loss of what to do differently with her at this point. Has anyone else felt with impacted crop or sour crop in such a young chick? Thank you so much for any advice

** Also she’s acting completely normal up to this point **

Daisy is the yellow one. Best pic I have of her with the swollen crop. Her feathers are a little mangy looking since she’s had it but I think that’s due to the olive oil that ended up getting on her when she would fight getting some.

 

[RoyalChick]

I am sure ithers who know more than me will weigh in. But one thing to know they do eat until their crops are full and then they take a rest and digest it.
In grown hens for example you should feel the crop in the morning after they have spent the night digesting. It should be full at night and empty in the morning.
I remember my chicks were big into eating at night so I am not sure when you should do a crop check on babies, but just wanted to weigh in that a full crop is normal as long as it goes down again.
Sorry if you already knew that but as you said you were new to chickens I wasn’t sure.

 

[Sussex19]

I am sure ithers who know more than me will weigh in. But one thing to know they do eat until their crops are full and then they take a test and digest it.
In grown hens for example you should feel the crop in the morning after they have spent the night digesting. It should be full at night and empty in the morning.
I remember my chicks were big into eating at night so I am not sure when you should do a crop check, but just wanted to weigh in that a full crop is normal as long as it goes down again.
Sorry if you already knew that but as you said you were new to chickens I wasn’t sure.

This!
And also, you said that Daisy is a Cornish cross, which are bred to eat as much as they possibly can, to reach a slaughter weight at around 6 to 8 weeks of age.
So she could just be a lot greedier then the others, and stuffing herself more?
Just so you know, (and you may already) Cornish cross don't usually live very long at all, as they grow so fast the legs and heart give out.
I hope that others have input as well, as I am not much good at health problems.

 

[Imprezznu]

I am sure ithers who know more than me will weigh in. But one thing to know they do eat until their crops are full and then they take a rest and digest it.
In grown hens for example you should feel the crop in the morning after they have spent the night digesting. It should be full at night and empty in the morning.
I remember my chicks were big into eating at night so I am not sure when you should do a crop check on babies, but just wanted to weigh in that a full crop is normal as long as it goes down again.
Sorry if you already knew that but as you said you were new to chickens I wasn’t sure.

Thank you so much for your response!

 

[Imprezznu]

This!
And also, you said that Daisy is a Cornish cross, which are bred to eat as much as they possibly can, to reach a slaughter weight at around 6 to 8 weeks of age.
So she could just be a lot greedier then the others, and stuffing herself more?
Just so you know, (and you may already) Cornish cross don't usually live very long at all, as they grow so fast the legs and heart give out.
I hope that others have input as well, as I am not much good at health problems.

Oh no… I didn’t know that but it makes sense. She’s much bigger than the other chicks. She’s my oldest daughter’s so I hope she lives for longer than that Thank you so much for your reply!

 

[Sussex19]

Oh no… I didn’t know that but it makes sense. She’s much bigger than the other chicks. She’s my oldest daughter’s so I hope she lives for longer than that Thank you so much for your reply!

You may want to consider limiting her food a bit, as I believe that can make quite a difference to how long they live.
I know some people have got them to live more than a year, by keeping them on diet.
Try to feel her crop when you are sure she hasn't been eating for more than a few hours, and see if it empties.
There still could a be an issue with the crop, so try to keep an eye on it.
With the chick that didn't make it, did you consider coccidiosis? I know that is one of the most common things chicks can die of.
I'm very sorry you lost one.

 

[Imprezznu]

You may want to consider limiting her food a bit, as I believe that can make quite a difference to how long they live.
I know some people have got them to live more than a year, by keeping them on diet.
Try to feel her crop when you are sure she hasn't been eating for more than a few hours, and see if it empties.
There still could a be an issue with the crop, so try to keep an eye on it.
With the chick that didn't make it, did you consider coccidiosis? I know that is one of the most common things chicks can die of.
I'm very sorry you lost one.

Thank you. I didn’t even have time to research by the time I saw how sick she was. I looked at the symptoms after you mentioned it but I don’t think it was the case. Hard to say I suppose. All of the other chicks seem to be doing great luckily. I’ll definitely limit Daisy’s food intake. She gorges herself on food and water.