How can you tell if its sour/impacted crop?

[chickengal30]

Hi all.

Hopeing to pick your brains please. One of my girls, a dark cornish, is six months old, is laying almost every day and seems wonderrfully healthy except the last two evenings her crop has been huge. (I keep the girls in an enclossed run and coop in the day and let them free range most evenings. This evening I got home late and they were only out for 20-30 mins.) Her crop is very firm, not warm to the touch and doesnt seem to be giving her pain. With help from my hubby and daughter I managed to get about half a teaspoon of olive oil down her.

Im new to chickens and so Im a bit worried. The others all get big looking crops too but not this big. Sorry didnt get pics, but I would estimate the crop to be about cup size (?)

Is this usual, or is it a problem. If it is, what should I do

Thankyou in advance for your time.

 

[seminolewind]

Okay, calm down. At night a crop is supposed to be full, and sometimes it's big and pretty much hard. The problem is if they still have that big crop the next day before they eat. So see what the crop is like in the morning.

 

[bambi]

Check her crop in the morning to see if it smaller. My hens really pack thier crops before retiring for the night. If it is still firm you can open her beak and smell to see if it has a sour smell. Wishing you the best of luck

 

[bambi]

Chickengal30, I found a previous post you can see if this helps you.
www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=156772

By the time I typed my first post and posted it Seminolewind had already posted sorry for the repeat

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Smell her breath. If you don't gag, it's not sour crop. As for it being impacted, I agree with Bambi and Seminolewind. Check in the morning and see if it's shrunk (granted you don't smell anything).

Good luck!