chicken feed

[monsterkx500]

Can baby chick over feed them self? Every one of my chick got this big lump on the right breast side. It look like chick feed showing through the skin.can anyone tell me?

 

[Dwkuska]

I have never heard of that, can you post a picture? Also are you giving them chick grit? Chicks need grit(sand?) to help them digest the more solid foods.

 

[Fred's Hens]

It's normal. Relax. The crop bulges on chicks easily. If they really load up, that bulge will protrude. No worries. All normal.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

This is normal. Chickens to not have teeth so all of the food they swallow gathers in their crop (which is what you are feeling). The crop is like a balloon that fills with food that is waiting to be broken down and digested.

Chickens eat little rock and grit that are collected in their gizzard. The food will pass from the crop to the gizzard where it will be ground down by these little rocks using the strong gizzard muscle. This process takes about 4 hours so as the chicken eats the crop will fill.

Check your birds first thing in the morning. After they have been sleeping all night, their crops should be empty.

It is possible for chickens that eat a lot of long grass for things to get tangled in there and block the crop. This is called impacted or sour crop. If this happens the chickens will become sick - their crop will not be able to empty and it will keep getting bigger and bigger.

What you are describing however sounds like normal crop function.

 

[monsterkx500]

This is the best I can get.