Impacted Crop in 3 week old chick

[MistyMountain]

I have a 3 week old chick that I think may have an impacted crop. I noticed something off about her last night and went ahead and checked her out. She seemed to be a bit lethargic, but not much. Her crop was quite full. I checked her again this morning (she and her 16 siblings have access to food and water 24/7) and her crop was still full. I compared the feeling of hers to the rest of them and she is much much much more full and firm. I have seen her eat and drink today, still with this full crop. I witnessed a couple of poops, all of which seemed much thinner (in that it is not the wide blob that the rest of them leave, not runny) until this last time, which had maybe a bb sized amount of poop and the rest was clearish liquid.

Could this be an impacted crop? I just lost one a week ago with similar symptoms. Where do I go from here? Olive oil and massage? Attempt to make her vomit? Any help would be appreciated. She is still quite active and not too happy about being caught.

 

[Eggcessive]

I answered your PM just now. I have been gone all day, so sorry that it took awhile to get back. Wish you would have posted on here earlier. Is your chick eating pine shavings? Are you feeding anything other than chick crumbles. If they are getting other things to eat, they will need chick grit. There shouldn't be too many crop issues with baby chicks unless they eat the shavings. A tiny bit of olive oil might help, but I wouldn't be trying to get a chick that small to vomit.

 

[MistyMountain]

Thank you eggcessive. I have the large size pine shavings, but I know they will still pick at them. I do not feed anything other than the chick starter crumble, but I have been "sprinkling" chick grit on it and mixing it in. Not much, just like a sprinkle of salt on food. I might see how open to a sip of olive oil she might be. Her crop is just so full and big compared to the rest of them. Being that they still eat at night, I just don't know how to gauge of she is properly passing everything.

 

[Engteacher]

I would isolate the chick for 12 hours or so and give her access to nothing but water. If the crop goes down in size or feels less tight, she's passing the food through just fine and it's not impacted. It's a good way to check before you start trying to treat.