Check out the chest of my rooster...

[fshinggrl]

Lately I've been noticing that this rooster's breast/chest seems to be sticking out abnormally. He certainly doesn't match my other EE rooster. This rooster is an easter egger and not the dominant rooster. He is about 21 weeks old.

 

[chooks4life]

That is the first time I've ever laughed out loud at a chicken's appearance, that I recall. The tiny head attached to that tank of a body. LOL!

Sorry.

What's the chance he's a Cornish X? Pretty slim I'm guessing but what the heck is up with that body?

Can you check his body on the perch at night and tell us how much of that is symmetrical muscling and frame, or whether there is something else accounting for his shape and size, i.e. tumors?

Best wishes.

 

[fshinggrl]

LOL Thanks for your response. I think the right side of his breast is bigger than his left. Something just doesn't seem right.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Is his crop empty in the morning? How old is he?

 

[fshinggrl]

21 weeks old.

 

[Outpost JWB]

If his crop is empting in the morning, I would lean towards what chooksforlife said. Possible tumor.

 

[AnnieSantiago]

That is most likely his crop.
My Speckled Sussex looked the same way.
The crop would get HUGE!

 

[chooks4life]

LOL Thanks for your response. I think the right side of his breast is bigger than his left. Something just doesn't seem right.

The crop is almost always on the left. The bulge in his chest, if it's the crop, should be on the left, and sort of soft, malleable; you can usually feel the grains etc within the crop from touching it on the outside. If he's not losing the cropful overnight then he possibly has a tumor or blockage.

What I laughed at was not his chest protrusion, which could be normal for a crop that's full, but rather I laughed at his 'depth' from back to belly when compared with his head. He's massive. The beard kinda makes the image worse. I've only seen that body shape on Cornish X's prior to this.

There's a possibility, however slim it may (or may not) be, that he's intersexed, male on one side and female on the other, a gynandromorph.

Can you get a photo of him from each side? Do you notice any differences between his right and left side asides from the breast muscle difference?

Here's some info on that. Apparently it's not too uncommon for hatchery birds and the main reason they were initially spotted is due to breast size differences, larger on the male half and smaller on the female half. Both the following links deal with the same article, just one has a bit more info.
Quote:

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100310/full/news.2010.114.html

Best wishes.

 

[AnnieSantiago]

I've read the chicken's crop is almost always on the RIGHT, not the left.

Yesterday I looked, and ALL 3 of my hens had crops on the RIGHT, not the left.

Here is a photo from the Chicken Chick, but if you do a google search on Chicken Large Crop and look at images, your bird does not look unusual to me.
Maybe I'm not looking at your photo correctly.

 

[enola]

Can you describe exactly how large his crop is? (Lemon sized or orange sized for example)

When you check for size you should also check to find what it 'feels' like when carefully palpated. Does it feel like a water filled baloon? Or maybe filled with something more substantial?

Can you put him in a cage so you can check his crop BEFORE he eats anything in the morning? If you can do that, then you can also see what his poop looks like.

What is his body condition like? Does his keel bone feel prominant? Do you have any way to see how much he weighs?

He does not look normal to me. We need to figure this out!