Is hemp bedding impacting my baby chicks crop ?

[Kjg1029]

My baby chicks are two weeks old and I just switched them to hemp bedding. And I did notice that they were eating a little bit of it. But I didn’t think anything of it. But now I noticed a few of them have really bad hard impacted crops. I took out the bedding and put back in the paper towels. I just need some advice please.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do they have access to grit?

 

[Kjg1029]

Do they have access to grit?

They do. I went to touch one of the baby’s crop but I could almost feel something pointy like a full piece of hemp bark is in there and it’s rock hard.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Guess to be safe for now keep them on paper towels. While it's normal for chicks to eat some bedding you definitely don't want them gorging on it. Are you using a heat lamp or do you have light on near the brooder at night? If so, turn off the light or in case of heat light, maybe look into getting a bulb that's heat only, no light, as it'd help if they stopped eating during the night so their crops clear out by morning.

I do use hemp in my coop, for young chicks I prefer something like aspen shavings as those are the largest flake shavings I can find, too large for chicks to eat.

 

[Fontaine]

My baby chicks are two weeks old and I just switched them to hemp bedding. And I did notice that they were eating a little bit of it. But I didn’t think anything of it. But now I noticed a few of them have really bad hard impacted crops. I took out the bedding and put back in the paper towels. I just need some advice please.

Did your problem resolved itself? I’m asking as I have the same situation last night. I just changed my two weeks checks from paper towels to hemp bedding and they’re eating it. I have grit but don’t want impacted crops. Did you go back to using the hamp?

 

[Hellomylittleladies]

I use hemp in my coop and nesting boxes, and that's where my baby chicks are with the mama hen. She tidbits them to eat crumbles off the floor and I do see them sometimes picking hemp up. They are less than a week old. I will update here if there are any issues.