Chick Crop Deformity?

[LOOKATTHATSHINE]

My wife and I brought in 6 baby chicks a few weeks back, and the speckled sussex of the bunch appeared to start having issues with her crop after a week or so... her crop would swell up tremendously every time after she ate, or sometimes even at random, and would stay that way for extended periods of time.

We thought we were dealing with an impacted crop and/or sour crop, so we induced vomiting by massaging her crop a few times a day during the second week of her life. We were also sure to make sure she had 24/7 access to ACV, probiotics, grit, etc., and took away their bedding material as she appeared to be eating it and possibly causing the impact/swelling. At her absolute worst she had begun pecking at her crop and ripping her hairs out around the chest area, leading to redness & irritation, which also led to the rest of the chicks pecking at it (thus the Blue Kote stain that remains with her to this day).

She is now approximately 3 1/2 weeks old and has just now really started to grow. She is still much smaller than the rest of the flock, but is finally starting to make noticeable physical changes. Her health seems to be completely normal other than the swelling in and around her crop. You can see in the pictures that it remains inflamed, and the size constantly changes within seconds, appearing to inflate and deflate again at random. The areas of transparent-like skin are also the same areas that took the most damage while she was going through her self-pecking stage.

Does anyone have any idea if this is some sort of deformity or underlying problem, and if so is there any effective way to treat it? As mentioned she appears to be healthy other than this issue.

Thanks in advance for any insight that can be provided...

 

[sawilliams]

I won't bee much help, but to reassure you I had (have) a chick that at about 2 weeks old the crop would extend up over the shoulder, he was also smaller then the others for a while. I thought i might have been becuase he was a late hatch and had some other issues shortly after hatch (pastybutt). He is about 8 or 9 weeks now and seems perfectly fine. He caught up in growth the crop eventually became less extreme and though he still has a bald spot where it seemed to be most bothersome that has started to fill in too.

Another suggestion would be a little bit of scrambled egg with olive oil or coconut oil

 

[Cayuga momma]

Another suggestion would be a little bit of scrambled egg with olive oil or coconut oil

This is a great suggestion. Once you give them the oil, massage the crop to get the contents moving.
If she wasn't so young I would suggest doing a surgery to remove the impaction.

 

[LOOKATTHATSHINE]

So you think this is still an impacted crop, even after almost 2 weeks later? When you feel the crop area it feels like a balloon, as if air were trapped down inside of it.

 

[LOOKATTHATSHINE]

Has anyone else seen this before? I sure would appreciate some insight.

 

[sawilliams]

So you think this is still an impacted crop, even after almost 2 weeks later? When you feel the crop area it feels like a balloon, as if air were trapped down inside of it.

Feed her like normal check her crop that might and remove all food. Check her crop again in the morning before giving her food. If her crop is still full its impacted. If it's empty that's a good sign but doesn't rule or slow crow. Hopefully if it's not impacted things will improve as the chick grows

 

[SimplyLivinthatFarmLife]

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with this. Hope someone is able to help you soon. Good luck!

 

[LOOKATTHATSHINE]

Thanks for the replies. I don’t understand how she is still behaving normally for this long if it remains impacted. The area just feels like it’s full of air... it’s not hard at all.

 

[sawilliams]

Thanks for the replies. I don’t understand how she is still behaving normally for this long if it remains impacted. The area just feels like it’s full of air... it’s not hard at all.

It might just be slow. Believe me becuase it was so high on my chick I thought it was a tumor or something.

Do the overnight test abs let us know, that will provide the most information for moving forward right now. Yogurt, oils, and grit will help keep things moving, maybe keep vitimans in their water till she starts to improve as it will help to offset nurtriant lose from slower eating. Try wetting her food to a wet mash to make it easier to eat and digest you can add oil to the wet mash. And no other treats beside scrambled egg with oil. To avoid getting impacted or becoming more impacted. As long as she is emptying her crop overnight things should be ok. But getting enough nutrients to get her to grow will be the most important right now.

The only other suggestion I cam give at the moment would be look into an avian vet, at least see if you can find one in your area if you are willing to go that route if needed.

 

[LOOKATTHATSHINE]

Just wanted to update everyone. Unfortunately we had to have the baby put down. We took her to a vet and he scoped her throat to try and get to the possible obstruction, but he said that it was too far down in her digestive system. It had gotten so bad that she finally stopped eating the morning of... we are still not sure if it was some sort of issue from birth or if it developed afterward... I appreciate everyone’s input & help, and hope none of you run into this with your flock.