all my girls have large crops - are they all impacted?

[HennysMom]

Wow - the thought of this is scary. I've been reading through and now I"m more confused that ever.

My girls are RIR's and are 7 months old. They've always had this large mass in the front of their chests where their crop is located (i'm learning this NOW of course... holy cow I'm terrified!) They've always acted normal, have grit, shell, feed, get to free range for a few hours (about 2) a day *due to hawks* and we also give them other goodies (yogurt, cottage cheese, fruits, veggies, oatmeal, etc) about twice a week (not all of them at once, we vary).

Some of my girls have larger chests than others, you can actually grab hold of them - they feel like a ball in there, but its always been that way since they were little.

So my question is - are they ALL impacted then and do I need to give them something to fix it? I dont want them to die or suffer

They seem fine, they see me step outside and they all gather at the gate and want food immediately, they always seem hungry (even though there is feed at all times) I just attributed it to them being spoiled. They run around, play, chase each other (and us) so none seem sickly.... ???

Now I'm terrified.... help!

 

[MissPrissy]

As long as they are eating the crop will be full. No worries it is normal.

With hold the feed for bout 6 hours and you will see the 'lump' go away.

The crop is a pocket so they can quickly gather food and run for cover when needed and be able to digest it later.

 

[HennysMom]

MissPrissy,

is it normal for their crop/chest to "swing"? LOL Oh goodness, I dont know how else to put it - when some of them run, that sucker swings from side to side sometimes....

are they just eating too much then?

*whew* my mind is a little more eased - thank you for posting so quickly. I'm sitting here looking at the girls out my window - they had a nice warm boat of grits this morning (was 30 degrees - brr!) and now I'm worried they wont digest something.

Guess that "new egg" status fits me well huh? LOL

Sorry

 

[the1much]

like missprissy says,, its normal to feel it if they eat all the time,, if they were impacted , they would stop eating and start dying in a week,,, not months,, to reassure yourself,, take their food away for a day,, you'll see it get smaller and smaller,, ( and they'll love you twice as much after ya feed em lol)

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
Perfectly normal. Chickens rarely over eat in the sense we humans know as over eating.

 

[Portia]

I have a hen recovering from impacted crop, she gets electrolytes until the end of the week then she's on her own. The impaction was evident because she became very lethargic and would call out all the time. She would walk around with her tail down, taking delicate steps. The hens rarely have their tails down, so I knew something was wrong. Otherwise, they always have a nice healthy lump of a crop and they fill it full before going to roost each night. By morning its empty, which is another way to tell if you have a potential impacted crop...there's a hard lump in there in the early morning before they've had a chance to do much feeding.

 

[HennysMom]

thank you all SO much! My worried mind can now rest again.

Its nice to know there are people out here that are willing to help us "new eggs" ease our over-worried minds.

 

[the1much]

Quote:
we all have times when something "new" comes up,,, thats where BYC REALLY comes in handy