Is this normal?

[Grey Bird Farm]

I bought a pullet today who is about 5+ weeks old. She is a BCM and is just a lovely little girl.

So my question. I'm new to chicks and my other chicks are all younger (3-4 weeks) and are still only on medicated starter feed.

The new chick feels like it has a little bean bag underneath the skin on her neck. Is this grit storage? I can literally feel little pebbley feedlike substance in there like it's stuck in a little sack.

Just wondering what this is and if it's normal. It feels like it's between the skin and the body. Weird.

 

[bubbazmommy]

That is the crop. It is where the food goes as the first step in the digestive process. If she is eating and drinking ok and acting normally she is probably fine.

You can check posts on impacted crops if you are concerned.

 

[Matt A NC]

Her Crop is full, that is all. Most likely the previous owner had her where she could get some grains or larger crumbles. By the morning it should be filled only with whatever you are feeding her.

Matt

 

[LeghornLisa]

I am also new to this chicken thing. My girls are 7 weeks old and I had the same question last week. I switched their food from mash to grower and they were not ready for it. Normally their crops fill when they eat but when they were on the grower food their crops were very hard and they squacked like they were in pain. Once I switched back they were fine. I also contacted the person I got them from and she said they really need to be on the mash for the first 12 weeks at least. I'm sure it depends on the breed, but just make sure her crop goes down and is not hard. Good luck

 

[Opa]

In this old roosters opionion I think to many people get in to much of a hurry to get chicks on adult feed. The higher protein levels provides them with the nutrition they need for proper development. I would keep them on 20% until point of lay and then switch layer pellets. I have found that there is far less waste with pellets compared to crumble (mash).

 

[Grey Bird Farm]

Thanks so much. I can heave a big sigh since I thought something might be wrong!

I'm going to leave everybody on my chick feed until it runs out (I've got about 3 lbs left) and then go from there. Thanks again