My 10 day old Blue Wyandotte (Lucy Blue) seems to have a bit of an enlarged crop. Pictures are from around 1am. This morning, it seems to be smaller, but only slightly. It's not hard, and she is acting normal in all other regards (aka: eating & moving around the same as the rest). I did see if I could smell anything funky coming from here, but I didn't notice anything, but I also couldn't really get her to open her beak. I have not tried removing food (I heard you can do this over night). I wasn't sure how that would effect the other chicks.
Is this normal or should I be concerned?
And, since someone will probably ask, my chicks are all on NatureWise Chick Starter Grower Feed by Nutrena. I also have a very small amount of chick grit in the brooder with them, but I don't really see any of them eating it much. Brooder temperature is at about 90ºF +/- (I'm mostly moving the lamp based on how the flock is acting and none seem too cold or too hot). Lucy Blue did get a hold of a very small bug one day that landed in the brooder (it was the size of the tip of a pencil). I have a CareFresh bedding in the brooder but it is covered with paper towels. I had plans to move all my chicks (6 in total) to a bigger brooder today as tomorrow I'll be bringing home 4-6 more day old chicks (current ages range from 8-15 days). I was going to use pine shavings in the bigger brooder. Was actually going to go buy some this afternoon then move the chicks. But then I was reading that chicks will sometimes eat the shavings and that can cause their crop to get blocked. Don't want to make a swollen crop even worse.
So I guess my secondary questions would be 1) Is it ok to use the pine shavings and 2) Should I not move my BW until the crop thing has been resolved? I could leave her by her lonesome tonight when I move the rest. That would allow me to remove her food over night. But it seems mean to leave her all by herself and take away her food at the same time.
Is this normal or should I be concerned?
And, since someone will probably ask, my chicks are all on NatureWise Chick Starter Grower Feed by Nutrena. I also have a very small amount of chick grit in the brooder with them, but I don't really see any of them eating it much. Brooder temperature is at about 90ºF +/- (I'm mostly moving the lamp based on how the flock is acting and none seem too cold or too hot). Lucy Blue did get a hold of a very small bug one day that landed in the brooder (it was the size of the tip of a pencil). I have a CareFresh bedding in the brooder but it is covered with paper towels. I had plans to move all my chicks (6 in total) to a bigger brooder today as tomorrow I'll be bringing home 4-6 more day old chicks (current ages range from 8-15 days). I was going to use pine shavings in the bigger brooder. Was actually going to go buy some this afternoon then move the chicks. But then I was reading that chicks will sometimes eat the shavings and that can cause their crop to get blocked. Don't want to make a swollen crop even worse.
So I guess my secondary questions would be 1) Is it ok to use the pine shavings and 2) Should I not move my BW until the crop thing has been resolved? I could leave her by her lonesome tonight when I move the rest. That would allow me to remove her food over night. But it seems mean to leave her all by herself and take away her food at the same time.
