Chick with sour crop?

[mothaducker]

Hello,

I have seven 1 week old chicks of various breeds, including 3 silkies. One of the silkies has a much larger crop than the rest and she is about 1/2 the size of everyone else (although her feather growth is on track with theirs). I gently massaged her crop tonight and she was hard swallowing and turning her head after. No smell coming from her beak and she’s active and acting normal. Should I be worried???

 

[micstrachan]

Take care when massaging, as you can cause the crop contents to aspirate into the lungs. My understanding, though, is that they will sneeze hard and you’ll know if you’ve done that. Don’t know for sure if that’s true. Can you take out the feed and water overnight and check her crop in the morning? If it’s still full, she may have ingested bedding. Are they on a starter crumble and water only? If so, I think bedding is the only thing that could be backing up her crop.

 

[micstrachan]

Once you know if her crop is or is not emptying g properly overnight, we’ll have more information to help you.

 

[rebrascora]

I would not worry if the chick is acting normally. They do reach an age where they are eating a lot for their size and their crop looks disproportionally large when it is full, especially if they have been gorging themselves as chicks sometimes do. It is a good idea to remove the food overnight (but leave water) just to check that it has gone down but I am pretty sure it is nothing to be concerned about.