chicks have swollen craws!!

[Mam Hen]

Will my chicks swollen craws go down? They are dried meal worms possibly too many ? What do I do to help them..

 

[keesmom]

You don't need to do anything. It's normal. The food will get ground up and digested overnight and those bulges will be gone by morning.

 

[Mam Hen]

Hopefully noticed yesturday after my kids fed them and still a noticeably swollen this morning.

 

[keesmom]

Have you given them grit?

 

[enola]

Take their food away from them tonight. Check their crops in the morning before feeding them. How old are these chicks?

 

[Mam Hen]

The chicks Are about 5 weeks going on 6

 

[Mam Hen]

No grit since this morning after I noticed it hasn't gone down.

 

[enola]

Take their food away from them. The crop should empty if they don't have more food to pack their crop with.

Are they acting normal? Not standing around looking pathetic?

 

[realsis]

That's usually a sign of eating well. food is STORED in the crop before it is digested. if the chick has access to feed 24/7 it's likely the crop will be very full at night, empty in the morning and they usually eat quite early so likely full again . if your worried the crop is impacted you can remove the food in the pm. and check in the am to make sure it emptied. I like seeing my girls with a full crop. it means they are eating well. it's usually only empty in early am after a nights sleep. They usually feed during the day. Remember whatever they eat goes into the crop then gets digested from there. the gizzard "chews" the food then it gets digested. you can look online and see how different chickens bodies work from ours. we have two lungs they have more, the food goes to the crop then through there system. it's really interesting. you ought to check it out online.

 

[Mam Hen]

Yeah lots of laying down but still scratching around for food.thanks for the advise hope they are just eatting well.