Can a chick appear healthy/lively with an impacted crop?

[medusine]

Baby chicks are 2 weeks old today. They are each a different breed, so hard to say if size discrepancies are normal or a sign of trouble.

Got a Salmon Faverolle, a Spotted Sussex, and a Golden Laced Wyandotte who are each noticeably smaller than the other 3- Buff Brahma, Black Copper Marans, and Partridge Olive-Egger (believe that's likely a Cream Legbar cross?), those have grown much bigger and quite a bit of feathering.

The 3 littles have enough feathering to flap their way up out and (mostly) back into the cage when I open the door.

The one I'm worried about, the Spotted Sussex (Dottie), seems pretty lively in that she comes a-running (hoping for a treat I think) and is the least skittish in terms of letting me pet her and pick her up.

Concerns: She peeps a lot- not constantly, but periodically will do the loud high peeping for a while. She's been doing that for at least several days (maybe since the beginning, I had a hard time telling who was complaining at first). There are periods when they're all happily scratch & pecking or at the feeder or sleeping, and she is quiet. But other times when everyone else is quiet/busy, and she's standing on her own, peeping loudly.

She has long wing feathers and a nice little tail forming, like her bigger flockmates, but just looks littler and thinner than the rest. I checked everyone's crops for the first time today, not knowing what feels "normal" vs "problem". Compared to the rest, Dottie's crop feels larger & firmer-maybe just cause she's smaller overall? (Also couldn't find the crop on Lemon, the Salmon Fav, but she's terrified of me so it may just have been because it is harder to examine her. Flips her lid whenever I pick her up.)

I do have them in wood shavings, which I'm now realizing some people advise against for babies because it can get eaten & cause a blockage. They're eating a starter feed that has whole seeds/grains in it, so they get grit. I've seen stories on here that a chick can gorge themselves on grit and get stopped up.

No pasty butt. Definitely isn't chilly - we're having such a heat wave that I've turned the heat plate off. Giving fresh water regularly, added electrolytes today.

I've checked her crop a couple more times and it still seems about the same - but maybe she's just eating a lot because she's got more growing to catch up on? I'll remove food at bed time tonight so I can see if it empties overnight. Just wanting reassurances if there's a chance she's just peeping because she's bored/lonely.

Follow-up... how the heck do you get oil into a baby chick's mouth?

 

[medusine]

I'll update for posterity even though nobody's engaged with this post - I checked a few of the other chicks' crops before they went down for the night, and at that point they felt much more similarly enlarged/firm-ish/gritty like Dottie's had early on and throughout the day.

My plan was to remove feed overnight & check in the morning.
I was NOT able to remove feed, because they scatter it all around the feeder; I worked late and it was my turn to put my human baby to bed; and I didn't want to wake the chicks up after child-bedtime to clean out the cage.

However, I use a heater plate for the brooder, not a lamp, so I was hopeful that since they get true darkness all night they might be sleeping through, and not having midnight snacks.

This panned out: I got up at the buttcrack of dawn, checked Dottie's and a few others' crops, and Glory Be! All were flat and empty as they should be. Big sigh of relief. I guess to the uninitiated, a full crop can seem alarmingly distended/firm when it is operating normally. Dottie must be just eating a big breakfast to catch up to her sisters' size!

 

[Stipenvlerk]

I'll update for posterity even though nobody's engaged with this post - I checked a few of the other chicks' crops before they went down for the night, and at that point they felt much more similarly enlarged/firm-ish/gritty like Dottie's had early on and throughout the day.

My plan was to remove feed overnight & check in the morning.
I was NOT able to remove feed, because they scatter it all around the feeder; I worked late and it was my turn to put my human baby to bed; and I didn't want to wake the chicks up after child-bedtime to clean out the cage.

However, I use a heater plate for the brooder, not a lamp, so I was hopeful that since they get true darkness all night they might be sleeping through, and not having midnight snacks.

This panned out: I got up at the buttcrack of dawn, checked Dottie's and a few others' crops, and Glory Be! All were flat and empty as they should be. Big sigh of relief. I guess to the uninitiated, a full crop can seem alarmingly distended/firm when it is operating normally. Dottie must be just eating a big breakfast to catch up to her sisters' size!

Thank you for the follow up... happy that Dottie is alright!

 

[medusine]

Thank you for the follow up... happy that Dottie is alright!

Me too!!

 

[lorilynla]

Thank you for the follow up... happy that Dottie is alright!

I'll update for posterity even though nobody's engaged with this post - I checked a few of the other chicks' crops before they went down for the night, and at that point they felt much more similarly enlarged/firm-ish/gritty like Dottie's had early on and throughout the day.

My plan was to remove feed overnight & check in the morning.
I was NOT able to remove feed, because they scatter it all around the feeder; I worked late and it was my turn to put my human baby to bed; and I didn't want to wake the chicks up after child-bedtime to clean out the cage.

However, I use a heater plate for the brooder, not a lamp, so I was hopeful that since they get true darkness all night they might be sleeping through, and not having midnight snacks.

This panned out: I got up at the buttcrack of dawn, checked Dottie's and a few others' crops, and Glory Be! All were flat and empty as they should be. Big sigh of relief. I guess to the uninitiated, a full crop can seem alarmingly distended/firm when it is operating normally. Dottie must be just eating a big breakfast to catch up to her sisters' size!

This was very helpful. Thank you for sharing.