Bulging Crop the Size of a Baseball!

[Stella1964]

Our red sex link layer, 20 weeks old and laying eggs steadily, suddenly has a very large crop, completely full, the size of my husband's fist, and very tight. He can feel the gravel inside when it is touched. We're concerned it's not normal and that she may be in trouble, although she's still eating like crazy and seems to be in normal spirits. DH did a massage to loosen it, and it helped a little bit but not enough to make a real difference. Her breast is really sticking out.

What is this, is it cause for alarm, and if so what do we do about it?

 

[CarriBrown]

Remove her from the flock and do not give her food until the morning. Make sure she has fresh water. If the crop has gone back down, she just pigged out.

If not, give her small amounts of food, like scrambled egg, with some oil, and massage the crop a few times a day until it goes down.
From there, I don't know. We'd have to just play it by ear. Keep us updated!

 

[Stella1964]

I'm wondering if the grit we're giving them, free choice, either shouldn't be free choice (they seem to consume a lot of it) or it should be a coarser type. How do I know what coarseness to use at 20 weeks?

 

[CarriBrown]

They know how much grit they need. If you don't give them grit, they will get it themselves by eating dirt and pebbles. You may not even have a problem. I'd start with taking food from her and seeing what it looks like in the morning.

 

[CarriBrown]

Any update on your girl?

 

[Stella1964]

Thanks for checking up! I really appreciate the concern.

What we ended up doing was removing their pellet when they went into the coop for the night, and didn't replace it until noon the next day. Her crop went down in size by about half, but it still seemed large. Not knowing what else to do, I went to work and when I came back last night to check on her, the bulge was totally gone! What the heck was that all about?! I think you're right...she just ate too much.

And this morning, every single one of my hens laid a perfect egg. How lovely!

I also purchased a coarser grit and have replaced everything, so we'll see if that makes a difference going forward.

Are chickens like dogs in that they don't know when to stop eating?