Is this hen's breast abnormal?

[BF Vince]

Rosie is 8 months old and has always had this huge breast? It goes down a little, so I thought it was a full crop. She is a greedy lil hen. But none of my other hens look like this.

 

[AltonaAcres]

Hmm. Does look really big. Feel it. A normal crop should feel like the consistency of dough. Not hard. In a normal crop you can also feel the food. i.e. if you feed crumbles you can almost tell just by feeling around. A normal chickens crop would go down during the night, when they haven't eaten. However, if she's acting fine, and this is normal, I wouldn't panic. A trip to the vet might be helpful.

 

[BF Vince]

Thank you for the response. She has always looked like that and seems fine.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Hmm... @Eggcessive ? @Wyorp Rock ?

 

[Eggcessive]

Let us know how it feels tomorrow morning before she has eaten or had any water to drink. It should be empty. If it is full and firm, soft, doughy, or puffy, then something is wrong. She may have a pendulous crop, a problem where the crop has been overstretched for a long period of time by overeating, and has lost tone. Crop bras are made or sold to hold the crop to help prevent it from being over-expanded. There is a crop bra pattern in the first link below.

Here are some links about crop disorders and treatments:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

 

[ldrchickens]

I lost a hen last night to a crop issues. She had a larger crop but was acting perfectly normal. Active,alert, always eating/pooping then she just flipped like a light switch. Not moving at all, swelled almost over night, then dies the next day.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[BF Vince]

It's now 4/19/2020. She wears a bra now. Seems healthy but I have read enough to know that it is a crop issue. The bra seems to at least hold it up. Before the bra she was wearing the feathers off her chest by roosting at night.