Impacted croup?

[pysankigirl]

I have a pair of 9 week old chicks in my house.

I have been observing them for 3 weeks, about to put them out with the rest of the chickens. The one tonight is acting wierd. like she is trying to swallow over and over and her croup is as hard as a rock. they ran out of chick feed today and when I got home and fed them, they attacked it like the were ravenous. could she have eaten too much?

what should I do?

 

[my sunwolf]

Yep, sounds impacted. You can get a syringe and get some olive oil or mineral oil under her tongue and let her swallow. Then massage the crop in a downwards motion. If her crop is still not down in the morning, continue the treatment. Make sure she's drinking water. If she's not doing better after a few days (meaning her crop is still very hard in the mornings), get electrolytes into her as well as the olive oil. Chicks often get this and are fine. You can tell it's really bad when she's fluffed up in a corner by herself and seems listless. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[sourland]

She probably just overate and should be fine by morning. First and best thing is to not let them run out of feed, but if it does happen feed limited amounts and do not allow them to overeat. Good luck - it should resolve over night.

 

[sourland]

How are the chicks today?

 

[pysankigirl]

How are the chicks today?

they are fine! Thanks for asking!!!

I am a worry wart, I guess. but I did the massaging thing last night, so maybe that helped. but they looked like they were strangling!

they are fine, now, though!

 

[sourland]

Good news!