4 week old chick with hard smooth crop that turns soft and mushy?

[bscorpio73]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Americana (Easter Egger), 4 weeks old, ??oz

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Eats and drinks fine, more active today, than yesterday morning.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Noticed enlarged crop yesterday morning, when she was lethargic

4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
She did scratch her beak day before yesterday, but don't think that is relavent to this situation.

5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Not sure, she did eat clovers kids threw in coop.

6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Clovers, insects, at first only drank water, but now is eating yogurt, olive oil soaked bread, medicated starter feed

7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Poop looked normal yesterday morning, and now, since ingestion of yogurt, more loose.

8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Massaging crop, olive oil w/bread, yogurt

9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Treat myself.

10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

11) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Chicks are housed in an enclosed coop, with pine bedding. Does not perch on roost yet. They are outside in run during days now, due to warmer weather. The run is covered with crushed, sandy rocks, or ABC obtained in quarry.

At first, I noticed a large swollen mass that felt squishy, like the area was filled with liquid. First thing in morning, she drank a lot and did not eat. That is what I was feeling. This swollenness did not go away during the day, and continued to feel squishy. During the day, yesterday, I gave her yogurt, and olive oil, and massaged her crop. I put her up over night, with out food, and felt of her this morning. The mass was still there, but it felt like a smooth, hard, marble this time. After eating some feed, yogurt and soaked bread, it was feeling squishy again, but not as enlarged as yesterday.

Please tell me if anyone has experienced the same, and if what I am doing will help, or does she have something I cannot treat?

Thanks so much, and this particular chick is two of my sons' favorite. I sure don't want anything bad to happen, and she does seem like she feels okay.

April, new to the chicken raising, all help appreciated.

 

[chickenofthesea]

I dont know the answer to this, but Im hoping you get it! BUMP

 

[bscorpio73]

Thanks. The crop is fine now. Must have been impacted? Seems to be gone in the morning now and fills back up during the day (normal filling). Thanks to all of the previous posts on this site, I found some great advice. I still have one or two that have very runny poop, but not sure if it is the yogurt and vinegar in the water. Saw some stools with blood in them. I currently have 2 Easter Eggers 4 weeks old and 2 buff orpingtons (5 weeks) and 2 Rhode Island reds (also 5 weeks old). Not sure which one has the runny stools. Trying not to use medications. All are acting fine, have had them a week now. They are more active than they have been in the begining.

 

[Marie1234]

At 4wks I'd stay away from the clover and stick with the medicated starter. When you pull clover for them they can't take little nibbles from the leaves and wind up with much larger pieces than they would if the roots are providing resistance, then they don't have enough grit in the crop to mash it up.