Is this sour crop?

[gyzmo]

My family recently got about 36 meat chicks. We’ve kept them in a big water trouph as a brooder with wood chips and water. Today we discovered a growth on one of the chicks and looking around at the rest we found it on a lot of the other ones as well. I did some research and it sounds like they have sour crop. The only thing is from what I’ve found it doesn’t typically occur in the whole flock. There are around 5-6 that don’t have this growth but the rest do. Is it still possible that it’s sour crop? We moved them all away from the others but we still have wood chips in with them. Should we take the wood chips out so they continue to worsen sour crop? All thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Debbie292d]

What do you mean by you found a growth? Like almost all of them have bulging crops or something else?

Are they all eating, drinking, and pooping normally? If so, could it be their age since they all have this? How old are the chicks?

If not, maybe try different bedding? Are they all being fed chick crumbles?

If it's indeed a crop issue, here are the two best articles from two BYC experts on crop issues:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

 

[Eggcessive]

Most young chicks will have full crops after they have eaten food. You can check them in early morning before they have had food or water to see if the crop is empty and flat.

 

[gyzmo]

What do you mean by you found a growth? Like almost all of them have bulging crops or something else?

Are they all eating, drinking, and pooping normally? If so, could it be their age since they all have this? How old are the chicks?

If not, maybe try different bedding? Are they all being fed chick crumbles?

If it's indeed a crop issue, here are the two best articles from two BYC experts on crop issues:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

Their crops are bulging. We’ve had them for about one week and we are currently feeding all of them chick crumble. They are all acting completely normal and we’ve only just now seen this even though nearly every day we have to clean their bedding. I’ll look at those links and see if they provide the information I need.

 

[Eggcessive]

Crops are supposed to be full and visible when they are eating well. That is normal. A chicken with sour crop will act sick.