Bad breath, is it sour crop?

[Sofainthefog]

Hello! I am raising chickens for the first time and have 3 very sweet (hopefully) pullets who are approaching 5-6 weeks old. One is a cuckoo maran and since I got her, she has always had this slightly off smell about her, that I realized comes from her head/mouth. It's like rotting asparagus... Not quite a putrid smell but something is definitely off.

As time has gone on and I've done more research I am concerned it could be sour crop/related to sour crop but I can't find anyting definitive. She eats normally from what I can tell, she is active, and preens herself. I have seen all of them poop and everyone has from what I can tell are normal ratios of healthy poop to cecal poop. When I have checked their crops in the morning they are all usually empty. The only nuances about her is that she is has always been louder than the other two, and as of late I have noticed she seems to be growing slower. She is the same size as the easter egger who is supposed to be about a week younger than her.

I keep their brooder clean; the entire thing is dumped once a week and cleaned out, and throughout the week I scoop excessive poop and add additional pine shavings. I also rinse out their waterer almost every day and in the last week or so I have been adding a few drops of ACV to it.

I got them from feed stores in my area and they are supposedly vaccinated for maraks. They are on medicated starter feed, but they do go out in the yard fairly often and graze on grass and whatever bugs they find. Overall they all act very content and happy together, so aside from her growth and the noisiness (which I attributed moreso to her breed/personality) the bad breath was just an anomaly. But I did want to see if anyone else has had any experience with this or any advice. I love my birds and want them to all thrive!! Thank you in advance!

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be very rare for a 6 week old chick to have sour crop. What are her poops looking like? Is she hunched or lethargic at all? Eating and drinking okay? At that age, coccidiosis might be a problem, and that would affect growth. Corid or amprollium is what is used to treat it at 2 tsp of the liquid per gallon for 5 days. I would make sure to change the water every day, and keep it high enough at shoulder height on bricks to prevent them from getting poop in it.

 

[Sofainthefog]

It would be very rare for a 6 week old chick to have sour crop. What are her poops looking like? Is she hunched or lethargic at all? Eating and drinking okay? At that age, coccidiosis might be a problem, and that would affect growth. Corid or amprollium is what is used to treat it at 2 tsp of the liquid per gallon for 5 days. I would make sure to change the water every day, and keep it high enough at shoulder height on bricks to prevent them from getting poop in it.

Can they still get cocci if they are on the medicated feed?

She has always had the smell since I got her at about 1 week old. At that time her and the Ameraucana were about the same size (I got them together and they were supposedly about the same age) but the Ameraucana has always been slightly larger, it’s just much more noticeable now.

If anything she’s more listless than lethargic, she tends to “fuss” more about being picked up or left alone, and if I hand offer food she’s the last to give in to eating from my hand. She still eats a good amount, and today while I was holding her I got her to eat a few bites of probiotic yogurt.
During the day when I let them outside to play and they’re all together, she acts just as happy and content as the other 2.

Poops are all normal aside from an occasional cecal poop that’s a little watery/foamy but all of them do it from time to time. otherwise majority of the poops are dark brown lumps with white caps.

 

[Eggcessive]

Corid (amprollium) is not harmful, even if she doesn’t have coccidiosis. I’m not sure why she smells, but chicks at this age have pretty smelly poops.