Help! 9 Day old chick with full crop fading fast.

[Criskin]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Standard Buff Orpington, 9 days old, not sure about weight but she is about half the size of her broodermates

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She doesn't seem to be growing, is listless and thin but her crop is full. It looks swollen and when I massage it I can see things moving beneath the thin skin.

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No.

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Nothing...although she is smaller then the others, she has been eating a drinking normally and isn't being picked on. Today she seemed kind of lethargic and when I picked her up I noticed the crop problem.

5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Before she had water, chick starter and once a mashed boiled egg with very fine grit offered. Also yogurt.

6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
It looks normal...just like the other chicks'.

7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I have removed her from her brooder, made her drink warm sugar water and a bit of vegetable oil and massaged her crop. Whatever is in there seems to be breaking up a little but it is still there and she look awful.

8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I plan to do all I can at home.

9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I can't seem to get a good picture.

10) Describe the housing/bedding in use

Right now she is separated in a small cardboard box with paper towel bedding under a heating lamp. Previously she was in the brooder, child's pool with a heating lamp suspended above and newspaper litter. Up until yesterday the newspaper was covered with paper towels.

 

[purpletree23]

If she was never on loose bedding then I think we can rule out her eating the bedding instead of food. Sounds to me that you are doing just what I would do. Keep her separate and make sure she can get away from the light in case she gets too warm. Very important!

Make sure she has water and is drinking. Don't force her to drink, it will just add to the little ones stress level. Use a dropper to drop the water/gatorade on the top/side of her beak so the liquid will roll slowly into her mouth so she can swallow.

Take away the chick grit. She may have mistakenly eaten too much. She may have gorged on the chick food. In that case hopefully it will work it's way through her system.

Keep us updated.

 

[Criskin]

Last night she seemed distressed about being separated from her brooder mates so I sat her box in the brooder with one end under the lamp so that she could get warm or move away. She seemed happier being able to communicate with them and promptly fell asleep against the warm rice stuffed sock I'd put in with her. This morning, to my surprise, I found her outside the box and running around with the others. She is much more lively and active than last night, although she still seems a little stiff in her movements. Her crop is still full and kind of mushy but I can't be sure if that is from last night or from eating recently with the other chicks. I hate to take her out again since it seems to upset her so and the other chicks don't seem to be picking on her so I'm just going to leave her in with them and hope for the best. I was so dreading waking up to find that she had passed in the night!