5 day old chick full but soft crop???

[ljkraemer]

Hi all,
I'm a brand new chick mama. Have 6 chicks. 4 are around 2 weeks old. The other two are closer to 1 week old. The smallest chick, named Margot, has had a full but soft crop since yesterday morning. I expected it to empty somewhat overnight and I feel there is no change from yesterday. She drinks normally. Compared to the other chicks, I think she eats less. Yesterday evening, she was very sleepy and not doing normal chick behaviors. But this morning, she is more alert and moving around more. She also does this quiet high pitched cheeping sound almost constantly. She is always trying to get under the wings of the bigger birds. Her poop has varied. Diarrhea yesterday morning, but normal last night. They are in a large plastic bin for a brooder with heat lamp. Temp at one end of the brooder is around 95 degrees. They have access to chick crumble and chick grit. In the water, I have probiotic and electrolyte mix. I gave the chicks scrambled eggs mixed with chick feed yesterday morning. They all went crazy and stuffed themselves silly. Margot definitely ate at that time. I haven't seen her eat very much since then, whereas the other chicks are still eating normally. Here's my question: Is it possible to get impacted or sour crop at this age? I've read all the threads about it but it seems to be in older chicks, like 3 or 4 weeks and up. Should I give her coconut oil and massage? Thanks so much!!!

 

[Aapomp831]

Impacted crop is not normal at this age...
Two weeks is too young for treats, even scrambled eggs. Stop using the probiotics; their chick food had enough. They shouldn’t even need the electrolytes anymore and 95 is WAAAAY too hot.... I have chicks that are one week and their brooder is at 80 on one end but huge so they can get away from it and they are never under the heat lamp. All they need is chick food, fresh clean PLAIN water changed daily and now would be a great time to start introducing chick grit in a container on the side.

 

[ljkraemer]

Impacted crop is not normal at this age...
Two weeks is too young for treats, even scrambled eggs. Stop using the probiotics; their chick food had enough. They shouldn’t even need the electrolytes anymore and 95 is WAAAAY too hot.... I have chicks that are one week and their brooder is at 80 on one end but huge so they can get away from it and they are never under the heat lamp. All they need is chick food, fresh clean PLAIN water changed daily and now would be a great time to start introducing chick grit in a container on the side.

Thanks for the reply! As far as the scrambled eggs go, I have a friend who has had chicks for 10 years and she has fed them scrambled eggs from day 1. If you search eggs on this forum, many people here feed eggs early on as well. In regards to the temperature, I go based on what the birds behavior is. If they were spread out and at the other end of the brooder away from the heat, I'd raise the heat source. Since this isn't the case, they are often at the heated end of the brooder and they still sleep next to each other under the lamp, I'm thinking the temperature is fine. 95 is the temp of the surface of the pine shavings. I'm using an infrared thermometer to gather that info. So maybe the air temperature is lower? I move the lamp up every couple of days. Thanks for the tip on plain water. I'll switch back to that this morning.

 

[InspectorB]

How is your chick doing? I'm having the same problem with several of mine. Also some of them have solids in their crops in the am.

 

[ljkraemer]

She is doing great!!! 7 weeks old and thriving. Her and another chick had very full firm crops day and night for the first two weeks I had them. I gave all the chicks scrambled eggs in the am and would spoon out a separate dish for the two crop issues and mix coconut oil in their eggs. I’d massage their crops a couple times a day just to make sure it was movable, but didn’t do anything more aggressive (like syringe oil down their throat or massage them upside down). The full crop was magically gone one morning after about 2 weeks (so 3-4 weeks old??) and hasn’t been a problem since. I would say observe your chicks behavior as the most telling sign. If they are eating and drinking and hopping around acting like a normal chick, leave things be. Hope that helps!

 

[InspectorB]

She is doing great!!! 7 weeks old and thriving. Her and another chick had very full firm crops day and night for the first two weeks I had them. I gave all the chicks scrambled eggs in the am and would spoon out a separate dish for the two crop issues and mix coconut oil in their eggs. I’d massage their crops a couple times a day just to make sure it was movable, but didn’t do anything more aggressive (like syringe oil down their throat or massage them upside down). The full crop was magically gone one morning after about 2 weeks (so 3-4 weeks old??) and hasn’t been a problem since. I would say observe your chicks behavior as the most telling sign. If they are eating and drinking and hopping around acting like a normal chick, leave things be. Hope that helps!

Great! So glad to hear! Thanks