Frizzle now has swollen crop!! Is this serious???

[ckw1205]

I have a Frizzle, Silkie, and Mili Fleur who have all been sick and isolated in the house for about a week...been treating them and the Frizzle and Silkie have been doing much better...still working on Milli...she is very ill...anyway, the Frizzle's crop is grossly swollen...very mushy, and when I went to give her some vitamins by dropper, I think she regurgitated some food from it...it was milky with pieces of yellow bits (she has been eating medicated chick starter and boiled egg)...where she was sick for several days, she wasnt eating as well, but now she is going at it full steam like she is starving and drinking fine...I put ACV in their water...should I be concerned about her crop? She is a youngster (not sure how old, as breeder didnt tell me)...about the size of a large sweet potato...her crop is huge, like a small water balloon...feels airy with fluid, not hard at all.

 

[AndreaS]

I put this in your other post too, but have you tried withholding food overnight? Leave them with only water tonight. It should be empty in the morning.

If it is not....there is a possibility that mucus drainage has upset the little ones digestive system, or that when it developed an appetite it stuffed itself too quickly. As a general rule going forward with these sick babies, i would only give very easily dissolved foods. Try grinding the chick starter finer in a food processor or coffee grinder. Feed yogurt, and hard boiled egg yolk only, mushed up. Scrambled egg is harder to digest, as are the whites.

Keep up the OACV in the water and yogurt (plain, with active cultures) for probiotics.

I'm hoping the crop is empty in the morning....you've had such a hard time with this one!

 

[ckw1205]

Thank you so much AndreaS, for all your help...the little Milli died last night in my hand

...my son cried as did I almost! This one is the frizzle and the other of the three we have been working so hard with...I didnt see this until this morning, so I will withhold food while I am out today and see if they are drinking...I did check the markings on the mason jar in the waterer to see how much, and they have drank about two oz through the night between the two birds. I am hoping she is drinking and it wasnt all just the silkie...

 

[AndreaS]

I read your post about the Millie. So sad.

Regarding the other chick, I bet the drainage is slowing digestion. I would take up the food to see if the crop goes down, and when you reintroduce food, just give a little bit several times a day so the chick can't gorge itself. And only give super easily dissolved foods, crumbles possibly made finer by grinding in a food processor, yogurt with active cultures and hard boiled egg yolk.

Let us know how it goes! It may take awhile for that crop to go down. Make sure you see the little one poop so you know food is moving through its system.