4 week old chick has sour crop? Not sure what to do.

[firststreetfarm]

I have 5 four week old chicks. 1 of my welsummers is still about half the size of all the other chicks and her crop is huge. It's been that way for about 3 weeks I think. She acts pretty normal & poops normally. I tried turning her upside down, massaging her crop & having her throw up what's in her crop, but it just came back. Yesterday I tried it a little again & some grass came up I had to help her get it out of her mouth. She must've eaten that when I had them outside exercising.

I've tried keeping her in her own box with just water & yogurt. It helped once, but she really hates being by herself & has escaped a couple of times to get back to her friends.

Her crop is just huge & I don't know what to do? Please help.

Because I'm a new member, BYC forum says I can't post any images? That's a little weird. Anyway around that?

 

[madamwlf]

Have you been giving them chick grit since it sounds like they are eating grass??? Chicks need grit if they are eating more then just chick feed. Not sure how to cure sour crop in a 4 week old.

 

[Miss Lydia]

me either but like the other poster said if they are eating more than chick feed they need grit. heres some info on crop issues..

http://fowlfacts.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=afflictiondiseaseff&action=display&thread=1188

 

[firststreetfarm]

I have not been giving them grit because I thought they were only eating chick food. I didn't think about that when they were outside they had eaten grass. So you think I should give her sand for grit?

 

[Miss Lydia]

yep sand will work until you can get some chick grit. hope the little one gets well. also try to not feed it anything else tonight and see what its crop looks like in the morning.. crop should be full in the evening and flat or almost flat in the morning. if they were outside eating grass you would think they would have picked up some gritty things [sand etc] to help grind it up. Maybe it ate something it shouldn't have. was the grass long strands?

 

[AccentOnHakes]

Quote:
If the chicks have a heat lamp, they will still eat at night and still have a full crop in the morning.

 

[firststreetfarm]

The grass was long strands. I think my kiddo may have thrown some grass in their outside/exercise cage. I'm thinking after reading the previous post it may be an impacted crop?

 

[AccentOnHakes]

Quote:
Long strands is bad; it gets caught in there.

 

[Miss Lydia]

thats true about the heat lamp and eating through the night. but if it ate long strands of grass that can cause crop impactation.