Air bubble in neck, please help

[Donna Jeanne]

Also, the chick is a Frizzle so it’s didficult to see a bulge. I will check again in the morning. It just had a bloody poop, but I don’t know if it’s intestinal lining or a concern.

 

[Cyprus]

Two things I would do immediately; get chick grit and Corid liquid. Provide grit free choice. Corid is 2tsp liquid to 1 gal of water mixed fresh daily.

 

[Donna Jeanne]

Thank you! I had Corid in the basement so just started her on it. I put out grit with yogurt but she hasn’t touched it. What do you mean “provide grit free choice”?

 

[Donna Jeanne]

If I need to medicate for sour crop with Monistat can I do that while giving Corid? TY

 

[Donna Jeanne]

And should I medicate the entire flock?

 

[staceyj]

Hi. I noticed that my son’s three month old chicken was lethargic yesterday. Today I held it and there is an enormous air pocket in its neck. Can anyone please advise? Thank you!

Let’s start with a few questions.
What are they eating?
I read the discussion about grit. Yes. It is important. It helps the chicks gizzard grow and get strong. Grit comes in sizes for chicks and adults.
Grit helps their digestion by getting caught up in the folds of the gizzard, a muscular organ and acts as grinding stones as food, especial fibrous food, passes through.

Unlike humans, when a chicken sleeps the digestive system is hard at work. If you look under the roost of a flock of chickens in the morning, the evidence of this process is right beneath them. When they wake up their crop should be empty and flat. You can check this by gently running your hand from the base of their neck right down the front of their chest.

As they run around eating, drinking and scratching at the ground all day, everything that goes in is deposited into the crop. It’s like a holding tank for food to be divested later.
It is expandable like a balloon and can get quite large. Sometimes you can even see it through parted feathers on the chickens RIGHT front chest.
On hot days if they’ve eaten less and drank a lot, or had a lot of fruit such as watermelon, their crop can look extra big and feel very smooshy, even hang down lower than usual.

If your chicken has a lot of water in their crop and you squeeze it they are going to regurgitate whether they’re sick or not.
Is like heimlich for chickens!
And it poses a risk of aspiration.

To monitor a chicken’s crop you need 12 hrs.
You need to feel it at night once they’ve gone to bed. Take away their food and water.

Cup your hand around it and make a mental note of its size, shape, location and destiny. THEN.... in the morning (here’s the important part), BEFORE you feed them OR let them out of the coop, feel for the crop again.
Is it flat? Or is it still the same or nearly the same as the night before?
If it is flat, DO NOT TREAT FOR SOUR CROP.

On the part about the bloody poop I support the decision to treat with corid ASAP. And if the chick doesn’t want to drink I’d go here this post for the severity dosage.
Corid dosing and severity.
You can give a drop directly to the beak.

 

[Donna Jeanne]

Thank you. The chick died over night. She had three large poops, all blood. So not sure what to do next for the rest. This is my son’s flock from eggs incubated from his beloved rooster that passed, but they share a common area with my chickens. The chick that died was his favorite. There are 18 other chicks who I don’t want to get sick. I put apple cider vinegar in that coop (& the other two coops with my chickens). I also put it in the water dish in the common area. I put grit in all three coops. I have the chicks on medicated starter and my chickens on regular layer pellets. I’m at a loss. Thank you.

 

[staceyj]

I would be out there today like Inspector Clouseau examining poops! Yes, I would continue with the treatment plan. Corid won’t hurt anybody and may prevent those littles from dropping like flies. If anyone seems droopy today, they get a drop or two of straight corid to the beak.

 

[Donna Jeanne]

Can I mix apple cider vinegar and Corid, or replace the apple cider vinegar?

 

[Donna Jeanne]

Also, I had emptied the chick’s crop a little and massaged her. Is it possible that I dislodged something like a piece of glass that ended up killing her? The chicks are out in an old carport. I always search the floor to see if I can find nail or glass. I’m wondering if the chick ate something sharp. Or conversely, if I massaged her too hard although it wasn’t that hard but it’s my fear that I contributed to her passing because I did that.