Hi All! Basically new to BYC and chickens in general. Long story short, someone dumped a Rooster on our property. He was pretty beat up when we caught him...missing a ton of feathers and had a couple large scabs on him. He seems to be getting much better. He is eating, drinking and pooping normally. I just noticed a bump a bit smaller than a golf ball on his chest. It feels smooshy with little pebbles or grains in it. I massaged it and it seemed to disperse a bit. I just took away his food and put yogurt in his dish. I'm assuming this is his crop and its full? Thank you in advance for any help / advice!
It's his crop, and it sounds as if all is normal with him. He fills it with food during the day to be ground in his gizzard and digested.
His crop may be normal. It should be empty in the morning after roosting at night, then during the day as he eats food, grass, and little pebbles to digest his food in the gizzard, it will fill up toward evening. If it is full in the morning he may have impacted or sour crop. Here is a link to crop problems: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
Thanks to all that replied. Doodles crop seems to be normal and not swollen this morning. Guess I just got a little freaked out when I felt the bump as I have no experience with chickens at all.