3 week old chick hard impacted crop

[mo9885]

I have a 3 week old chick that has had a hard impacted crop about the size of a marble for 4 days. I did not realize when I got her that there was an issue because I am new at this. I noticed the crop looked slightly bigger than the other chicks but she has been eating, drinking, and active. She also had pasty butt which i gently cleaned. Now she seems slightly more calm than the other 2 chicks but I wonder if that's lethargy or just temperament. Now that I know what a crop is I checked her vs the other and her is distinctly hard and the others are squishy and less pronounced. Any tips? I've read olive oil, ACV, yogurt massage, water only...I have hydro-powder I could mix. Should I iso9late her from the others to watch her bm's and eating more closely? Won't that be stressful for her? Please help

 

[Battlepants]

If she's eating, drinking and active, the crop might be a non-issue. Some of my chicks had a similar crop situation to what you described and left it be under the assumption that they had simply recently eaten.

A small additive that I would suggest is sprinkling some grit into the food. This will help break up food and any other things consumed (bedding, for example) and help them pass through.

What is your brooder situation looking like? Do you have a lightsource on constantly? Or do they go 100% dark at night?
-If you have 100% dark, try to grab this chick first thing after turning on the light and feel the crop, it SHOULD be deflated at that point.
-If you have a lightsource, it is likely that your chick is just eating whenever the crop allows more food in.

That pasty butt is the piece I would definitely be concerned about. I assume you fully cleared the vent and she is able to easily poop?

 

[mo9885]

If she's eating, drinking and active, the crop might be a non-issue. Some of my chicks had a similar crop situation to what you described and left it be under the assumption that they had simply recently eaten.

A small additive that I would suggest is sprinkling some grit into the food. This will help break up food and any other things consumed (bedding, for example) and help them pass through.

What is your brooder situation looking like? Do you have a lightsource on constantly? Or do they go 100% dark at night?
-If you have 100% dark, try to grab this chick first thing after turning on the light and feel the crop, it SHOULD be deflated at that point.
-If you have a lightsource, it is likely that your chick is just eating whenever the crop allows more food in.

That pasty butt is the piece I would definitely be concerned about. I assume you fully cleared the vent and she is able to easily poop?

Thank you so much for your reply! I have the three babies in a large sterilite bin with a heat lamp on one end, water on the other and food in the middle. I watch them a lot and the chicks wander around evenly and prefer to sleep near the lamp end but not directly under so I think the temp is right. They do seem to eat all night because I have never noticed their crops completely deflated but I think the solid feeling of this ones crop was worrying. The pasty butt was cleaned completely last night and I did not see any on her this morning still.
Behavior wise she seems pretty normal, but slightly less active than the other two which like to spaz out from time to time, she's more calm and sleepy. She's also slightly fluffier (don't know if its breed or she's behaviorally fluffing out because she isn't well) and she's growing at the same rate as the others but again I've only had her for 4 days.
They're on mostly chick started but I have given diced carrot broccoli and cucumbers as a treat and she enjoys that. In will add grit.