5 week old chicks with enlarged crops - what's wrong?

[GHJ1]

Hi,

I have 5 five week old chicks who have been doing really well. But when I went to feed/water them this evening, all 5 have enlarged crops (some worse than others, and I assume this is what it is) They are fed Chick mash, and are in a run with Mama hen, they did get out the other day when we moved their run, but other than this 5 minutes have not had access to any large plants or other food.The Barred Plymouth Rock is the worse, but the leghorns and pekins also have it. What do I do, and why would this happen?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Check them again in the morning. What probably happened is that they ate enough to fill up their crop and they will then go digest it. They store food in their crop so it can get fairly large. If it is gone later, it’s perfectly normal.

It’s a survival instinct. In the wild they are more at risk while eating so they fill up their crop then go someplace safe to digest it, then go foraging again. It’s also pretty normal to fill up their crop just before they go to bed so they can digest it overnight.