crop or air sac

[bturbo87]

can you tell the guy we went to this afternoon was not able to 100% care for his chickens, probably why we came home with as many as we did. i am pretty new to this all and had my classic first full crop scare, but this new group of EE's we brought home today are kind of worrying me and the wife. they seem to have overly full crops that feel like balloons, and not just on one side, but on both sides of the chest, so for tonight im taking away the food and checking in the morning, correct me if im wrong but, if these sacs dont go down by morning then they are probably air sacs, and i would need to lance correct, just a small incision over the area and keep it clean afterwards. also the older birds we got from him today seem about the same way, just that theyre crops seem to be full of no joke large gravel, is there any way to get it through their systems without operating???

 

[PunkinPeep]

If the majority of a group of chickens have similar sized crops, they probably just had a good meal.

I have never heard of an air sac problem next to the crop, and surgery for an impacted crop is really last resort. There is quite a bit of information about helping impacted crops get moving again if that is the problem.

Here are a couple that might help you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3097930#p3097930
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=224315&p=2

However, please be sure they're not just full from a good meal before you start applying any drastic measures. Withholding food overnight is an excellent way to tell.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
Yes You are right there, as I just told him in a PM, the "balloons" are their starter feed and bread that we buy in bulk and feed to them as a treat and fattener, and the "gravel" is cracked corn. They have had no access to real gravel or anything like that.