Full crop ?

[saginawmom]

I have a 2 week old BO that has a full crop nearly all the time! Last night, I gave her some olive oil and massaged it down to nothing. She acted like she was swallowing it down as i massaged. Well this morning, it was large again, it is pliable, not rock hard. No smell from her mouth either. Is she just eating too many pine shavings? She is on chick starter and water. Her poop has been kinda sticky, for a couple days, too. I did give the girls some corn yesterday with grit. Is this normal? Is she always going to have this problem or will she grow out of it? What can I do? I also have 2 RIR, same age, that dont have a problem and they are always pigging out! TIA!

 

[LizGled628]

I would wait for some of the pros to chime in, but I think that's normal. I've read a lot about little babies getting big crops on account of being such piggies. Sounds like you are very attentive and taking good care of them!

 

[BackToMyRoots]

How is she doing today? The experts would know better, but I think the crop should've shrunk (even if they filled it right back up again) by now. I had the same scare a few weeks ago, and a BYC poster said I could withold food overnight and then check in the morning. If the crop doesn't shrink overnight under those circumstances, let the BYC experts know and they can tell you what to try next. Chicks sure can eat!

 

[saginawmom]

Thanks for checking, she is doing fine, the lil piggy chickie! It fills up all the time! but always goes down again. I check often.

 

[teach1rusl]

Glad she is fine. To really tell about their crop, you have to remove their food for the night and check them FIRST THING in the morning, before they've had a chance to eat. If the crop is back to "normal" then that means everything's going through fine. You'll find that even when they're bigger, some girls just seem to almost always keep a huge crop - but it always looks smaller in the mornings if they haven't had a chance to gorge yet