Impacted/sour crop in 1.5 week old chick?

[resinchicken]

I am a first time chicken owner and bought 5 chicks from Rural King on 12/22. 3 Jersey Giants and 2 Olive Eggers. I am new but have some experience because my sister raises chickens and I help with them daily, so I felt I was ready for my own birds and read every chicken keeping website, book, and watched all videos I could get my hands on. I didn't expect to have issues so early on but here I am.

One of the Jersey Giant chicks is much smaller than her siblings, it's like she is growing very slowly. I tried to show the size difference in the pictures. After inspecting her, I noticed her crop is quite large and hard. Last night I tried to isolate her but she wailed for her siblings which just broke my heart and I was afraid of stressing her out, so instead I put her back with the others and removed just the food for all of them overnight. This morning, all of her siblings had empty crops, but this baby still had a big crop, though it felt soft and doughy. After a few hours it now feels firm.

I have tried giving her olive oil but can't get her to open her beak. She's so delicate. Can I just give them all chick starter with oil in it? Will it negatively impact the rest of the babies?

Is she possibly so small because she isn't getting food properly due to crop issue? She does walk around and seems to be ok otherwise. She is eating and drinking. Poop is runny and I think it's watery, I attached a poop pic.

Thank you for reading and any advice, I greatly appreciate it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Try offering them all some wet chick starter, see if that makes a difference.
For oil, I would give her a few tiny chunks of coconut oil. All the chicks can eat it if you wish, their poop may be a bit looser with the oil, just so you know.
Re-check her crop first thing.

Is she drinking plenty of water?

Next time you update, post some more photos of her and the chicks (poop too), but please turn off the red light. It makes it hard to see the colors correctly.

Welcome To BYC, I'm glad you joined!

 

[resinchicken]

Try offering them all some wet chick starter, see if that makes a difference.
For oil, I would give her a few tiny chunks of coconut oil. All the chicks can eat it if you wish, their poop may be a bit looser with the oil, just so you know.
Re-check her crop first thing.

Is she drinking plenty of water?

Next time you update, post some more photos of her and the chicks (poop too), but please turn off the red light. It makes it hard to see the colors correctly.

Welcome To BYC, I'm glad you joined!

Thank you so much for this advice, it's greatly appreciated! I gave her coconut oil and massaged the crop gently downwards in hopes it would minimize the size. Today the crop is even larger and droopy feeling. It feels very squishy and soft, and easily pushed around. I see her eating and drinking, but have not witnessed her poop. Also, I see her tail bobbing up and down, which with other birds indicates heavy breathing.
I included more photos, this time without the red light. The first photo is the poor chick on the right next to her fellow chick of the same age. All the other chicks are getting pretty big, but she is much smaller than the other chicks. I am concerned this could be pendulous crop, or could go that way with time..but can't find much about that issue with chicks in particular.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What a cute little chick!
Thank you for the photos.
I'm going to tag in @azygous and @Eggcessive too.

Does she seem to gasp for air at all?
You're right, it does look pendulous, but tell me this - what does the bulging area feel like - food inside of it, Air, doughy, squishy or ?
When she eats/drinks does that get larger or does that stay the same and another area gets larger?

Just trying to make sure that's her crop and not an air sac is all - this is why I'm asking questions.

If it's the crop and she's not gaining/growing, then she may have some type of developmental issue. That said, let's try and see what we can do for the little one.

You haven't seen her poop at all? Her vent is clear and not pasted.
I'd get some fluids into her, give her drops of water. Wet feed and little coconut oil.

Look at the photo below, see how the crop is shaped? It has a very slight natural droop like a pouch. As the crop fills, food/water are pushed into the proventriculous, see how opening to the proventriculus is a little higher? When you massage the crop, push ever so slightly up and see if this helps the crop to empty.
I have never seen a pendulous crop on a chick so young and small. I have had slow and sluggish crops on chicks this young. Give the coconut oil and see. Do keep her hydrated.

Hopefully Carol and Kim can chime in with other ideas.

Photo Source The Chicken Chick

 

[azygous]

I believe you may have a failure-to-thrive chick (FTT). No, not because of anything you did. Sometimes animals and humans, as well, come into this world before they have all the functioning parts for the job of living and thriving.

This chick may have immature organs, as you've suspected. Her liver probably isn't up to the job of processing nutrients and calories, so she isn't growing. Some of these chicks get to three months old and still look like they're just a couple weeks old, same size, same chick down.

Her gizzard may also be too small for the job, so it isn't moving food through it, so the crop won't empty. Then it's real common for chicks like this to be constipated. Her moving her butt up and down can be from heavy respirations, but can also be from trying to poop or she feels pain there.

There are a few things you can do for these chicks. Poultry Nutri-drench is a terrific supplement designed just for sick chickens and especially sick chicks as it goes right into the blood stream instead of having to be metabolized in the liver, which probably isn't working well.

Then, as @Wyorp Rock suggested, give coconut oil. Yes, it's safe to lace the food with it and the other chicks can eat it. If it does anything to them, it's just to make their poop softer for a little bit.

It's better to get the oil directly into the chick so it can do some good. Chill a half teaspoon of coconut oil and break it up into tiny chick-bite size pieces, then chill until hard. Keep it on a chilled dish or it will become soft and liquid before you get it into the chick.

Hold the chick in a soft cloth so you have a good hold on her. Pry open the beak by slipping a fingernail into the beak crack and then open. Slip a piece of oil into the beak, close the beak and she'll swallow. Repeat.

Be sure to keep checking her for pasted poop as this is common with FTTs. Pasting will make everything much much worse if not noticed. And do keep her with her pals. They can have whatever she eats, and do offer her things in addition to her chick feed such as finely minced boiled egg and crumbled tofu. These are high in protein and will help this chick put on weight and grow.

If the chick struggles or becomes upset, chickens calm down immediately when you make shh-shhing noises.

 

[resinchicken]

These replies are tremendously helpful, I am so grateful for the time and effort you both have spent responding. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. The information you have shared is empowering.

I did watch her eat and drink and then massaged her crop. I could feel the chick starter in her crop but other than that it felt squishy, slightly doughy. Sometimes she would make some kind of muscle movement and the crop would feel smaller and harder, but then she relaxes and it goes back to being squishy. It doesn't feel airy, and I have not seen her gasping at all. Also, her vent is clear and not pasty or irritated. I did see her poop after the massage and attached a pic of the poop.
I was able to find Nutri drench and will give it to her, as well as the coconut oil method and scrambled eggs and will continue to massage the crop.
I don't know if FTT chicks always have a poor outlook and have been reading every thread I can find here on BYC about this FTT chicks. I don't want to prolong inevitable suffering if she will not be able to thrive with the others, but since she doesn't seem to be in pain and is eating and drinking, I will try my best to see if she can get through this

 

[azygous]

That poop is a grade AA chick poop! Cheers!

FTT chicks can sometimes catch up. Not all, but with extra high protein feedings, they can put on weight and manage to grow. Your little "giant" may end up being no larger than her sisters, but she can have a normal life. You will know in the first four weeks if she will make it. A FTT chick who won't make it will deteriorate instead of progressing. It will be obvious.

 

[resinchicken]

That poop is a grade AA chick poop! Cheers!

FTT chicks can sometimes catch up. Not all, but with extra high protein feedings, they can put on weight and manage to grow. Your little "giant" may end up being no larger than her sisters, but she can have a normal life. You will know in the first four weeks if she will make it. A FTT chick who won't make it will deteriorate instead of progressing. It will be obvious.

Thank you so much for your expertise and letting me know the poop is healthy looking! Phew!
I will definitely incorporate protein in her diet to hopefully help her grow and will update this thread in the coming weeks for anyone who may be interested in the outcome of this chick in the future. Thank you again so much!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, the poop looks good!

I hope she starts to improve, please keep us updated on how she's doing.

 

[Mama_Arty]

i was wondering if there was an update on this little one. I have a chick with an odd crop as well, not FTT (she's a chunker) but I was curious how yours was doing.