- Jan 9, 2015
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Hi - I am based in Brittany France and am very new to chicken keeping! I have 3 pekin bantams, two silkies, two Belgian Bearded Bantams, a cochin, a brahma cockerel, 2 sussex and a copper maran. At the moment I think one of my bantams is a tad unwell. She is wanting food and looking sprightly but when she stops running around the run she stops and shuts her eyes for a while. I think it may be something to do with her crop? It felt quite bulbous the other day so I gave her olive oil and massaged on a few occasions. The next day the hardness seemed to have gone but felt a bit squishy (difficult to describe) - I am not sure if she has a blockage the other pekins crops feel different to hers - have given her a bit of pineapple but wondered if it could be something else. They have a large outdoor space for the day and they go back into their coop to perch at sunset. They are fed on a complete chicken food, oyster shell and grit and scraps - i.e. pumpkin, cucumber, toms, lettuce, cabbage etc. As I say she is still interested in eating - I do think she has lost weight though - she spent a good couple of months brooding in the summer and started losing weight then. Any tips would be really appreciated!