Chick has air and “jell” in puffy crop

[MilkFarmChickens]

I have a Black Copper Marans that is about 2 months old. She has a huge swollen crop, with the water balloon feel, and has been this way for about a month. I’ve done everything I’ve read to do - massage it, burp her, feed her oil, apple cider vinegar, oregano, grit.

Her brother had something similar and died within days. They are the only 2 birds that I bought from a local breeder. I also hatched a bunch of my own at the same time and she is much lighter and thinner than the others her age. None of the others are showing these symptoms.

She is eating and drinking and seems super happy all the time, but she walks around with this huge bulging crop that looks like it’s going to pop, and sometimes it knocks her off balance it’s so big.

I’ve read all about impacted crop and sour crop - there is no foul smell when the jelly liquid comes up.

Her poop looks pretty normal.

I want to treat her myself, and naturally (our hens and farm are organic). I do not want to take her to a vet, I would like to figure this out myself.

She is on pine shavings now, but was out in the coop with the bigger hens for at least a week before this started.

It never goes down. I’m including a photo of her in case it helps. Sorry for the red light - I had to put her back under a heat lamp because she’s so skinny I don’t think she’ll survive a very cold night.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!!

 

[DotToDot]

So it feels like a water balloon? It sounds like impacted/sour crop. Grass is most likely the cause. If you feed her any, make sure it’s smaller than an inch. Also, you can try gently holding her upside down and massaging the crop to get her to vomit, but that’s the only thing I can think of that you haven’t already tried. I would say try than and just keep giving her oil.
Good luck.

 

[MilkFarmChickens]

DotToDot she doesn’t get grass but she does peck at her pine shavings some. It’s been like this a month… does it usually stick around that long? Also doesn’t stink at all which I read sour crop will…

 

[Wyorp Rock]

2 months old. She has a huge swollen crop, with the water balloon feel, and has been this way for about a month. I’ve done everything I’ve read to do - massage it, burp her, feed her oil, apple cider vinegar, oregano, grit.

She is eating and drinking and seems super happy all the time

What's her poop like?

Photos without the red light would be good

You mention it's like Air. Is it the crop or could it be a ruptured air sac? Any air bubbles under the skin?

She's eating/drinking/ happy - this description does not really fit with having a crop problem for a month.

 

[MilkFarmChickens]

What's her poop like?

Photos without the red light would be good

You mention it's like Air. Is it the crop or could it be a ruptured air sac? Any air bubbles under the skin?

She's eating/drinking/ happy - this description does not really fit with having a crop problem for a month.

Yes, I agree that it is crazy that she’s eating and drinking and happy after having this balloon on her chest for a month. Her poop is normal, too. She also totally chowed down the grit I offered her.

I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a ruptured air sac, so I will look that up… I don’t know how that would happen. If this info helps, I can work most of the air out through her mouth, but then it just seems to fill back up. I don’t feel any air bubbles under her skin though, no.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well that's interesting that you can actually burp her. Usually the only time I've had them burp was when there was sour crop.

Let's see what @azygous thinks.

In the meantime, can we get poop photos? Oh and what do you feed, including treats, forgot to ask.

The photo is blurry, but it shows where the 9 air sacs are located on the body. See what you think.
I'm just puzzled, she's blown up with air but eats/drinks - so

 

[azygous]

She's awfully young to be having crop issues. If this was sour crop that she has had for a month, she'd be close to death from starvation by now. And she certainly wouldn't feel like eating.

It's likely something other than a crop issue, but I cannot venture a guess as to what it might be.

 

[MilkFarmChickens]

@azygous and @Wyorp Rock, I’m finally uploading a video of her and photos without the red light. And a picture of her poop, too. For sure she is skinny on the rest of her body, so it’s like she doesn’t digest the food quite right or efficiently. But I’ll try and upload the video of her going for the food… she really does seem happy and eating quite a lot. It’s peculiar, I know! And it’s been going on almost 2 months now. (The stuff on her chest is just buttermilk that she’s been chowing down on, and got messy with - doing that for the live cultures)

 

[MilkFarmChickens]

Here is a link to a video of her popping around like nothing is wrong. She seems super happy.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

As a recap: She has a swollen crop, with air in it, and thick clear fluid with no smell will come out occasionally if I put pressure on it. It doesn’t seem like sour crop, and it’s not just inhaled air because it’s been like this for almost 2 months now. She eats well and drinks well and runs around acting happy and chirping just like in this video.

I’ve read lots of articles and advice, and have been doing apple cider vinegar, oil, vitamins, grit, homemade buttermilk (for the cultures), oregano, garlic, massaging it, burping her, and I really just don’t know what else to try.

Our chickens are organic, so I can’t just put her on a round of antibiotics… I’d really like to figure this out. She *seems* better than she was a month ago, but still very swelled up. I’m hoping whatever it is will pass, and I’ll keep updating this thread so anyone in the future can hopefully learn from this somehow.

Any ideas would be super helpful tho! I’ll keep you all posted on her progress and HOPE that she makes it through whatever this is!! Anyone else ever seen anything like this?

Also… enjoy her adorable milk mustache she loves this stuff!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What do you feed?

I'd feed her chick starter, no seeds, no corn, not treats. Provide grit.
Treat the crop according to this article https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/