First time raising chickens, worried one is sick

[jellybean08]

I have eight chicks that I've had for about three to four weeks. So far everything has been fine, but lately I've noticed one of my Rhode Islands has a big crop. I didn't worry about it because my two Brahmas had big crops at one point, but they grew out of it eventually (they're a few days older than the Rhode Islands.)

Just recently while she was eating the Rhode Island started to have mucus come out of her beak. It was foaming and some of the other chicks were pecking at it. I got her out of the cage, but she stopped pretty soon. My mom thinks she just sneezed, but I think she might be sick. What should I do?

 

[highcountrychickens]

Hi Jellybean - ... might need some more information. First and foremost, what are you feeding them? If it is anything but chick starter crumbles, you need to be sure they have some sort of sand or very small cherrystone or similar grit, which they 'eat' and use in their crop/gizzard to grind up bigger pieces. If they don't have this, the grains are too big and unprocessed to pass and all kinds of nasty things can happen. There are a few great threads here if you do a search.

The foaming sounds strange... could they have gotten into something strange?

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ZepChick]

you should always isolate a chicken you think may be sick, if only to protect the rest of your flock....good luck!

 

[jellybean08]

We've been feeding them medicated chick crumbles. We have grit in there too because we were feeding them bugs, but we haven't done that for awhile.

I've separated her from the others, I have her in a plastic crate in my room. She's peeping really loud. I want to get her to drink or eat, but she's ignoring it, maybe because she is so worried to be away from the others.

Here's a bad webcam quality picture of her that might show her big crop.

She keeps trying to fly out of the box to be with me!

 

[MikasGirl]

Hmmmm... We had a chick that once had a big crop but that eventually went away. I would definetely isolate it [Which you have already done

] It sounds like it may have a cold.. Keep an eye on her and keep us posted! Good luck!

 

[Judy]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1198

scroll down to find some good threads on crop problems.