I have a small flock of 5 hens= 2 Pheasant Rocks, 2 Rhode Island Reds, and 1 White Rock..... we had two whites but lost one a few weeks ago, a result of a dog not desease. About a week ago one of our RIR's came down with what appeared to be vent gleet, discharge from her vent that smelled horrid. We have been treating the entire flock with probiotics since, adding a little apple cider vinegar to their water, and have kept her clean while monitoring the others. She seems to have gotten over the gleet and I had a few questions about her crop. Since I am new to chickens or they are new to me I am uncertain as to the normality of their crops. The one RIR who had the gleet problem seems to have a full crop, often. I check her in the morning and it seems to be normal, as in not being full and swollen, however by mid-day her crop is full, typically hard and remains this way for the rest of the day. Ocassionally her crop seems watery but more often then not it seems to be hard. The others in the flock don't seem to have as much in their crops at any given time. Currently, this RIR is the only one of the flock of five that is laying All of our chickens are free range and have access to Layena crumbles, which they eat throughout the day as they see fit. They are fairly young and are all about 21 to 22 weeks old. Their coop has pleanty of room, approximately 64 square feet in floor space, 8x8 wall deminsions, but they are only in their coop at night as they range the whole day. Is it normal for her crop to swollen, hard, or full as it often is. Again, it seems to be normal in the morning. Just trying to head off any problems before they might occur.
It is normal for the crop to be full at the end of the day and empty first thing in the morning before they eat. It will be hard or squishy depending on what they have had to eat or drink and how much.
The empty crop in the morning is the main thing. If the crop is still full in the morning, after having no food all night, that's when you know something is wrong. This one is just eating plenty all day. And since you said she's the only one laying right now, she's probably especially hungry. Her body is using up a lot more energy than it used to.
Thanks for the assurance, I thought all was alright but just wanted to make sure- especailly since she is the only one laying right now!
