Large crops?

[atomic]

Uhg, somehow my page refreshed and I have to retype this! Anyway I am a new chicken keeper, my three oldest just began laying and they hatched end of January. I was just wondering if it was normal for all of them to have extended crops? It seems to happen later on in the day, are they just pigging out? They get to free range my backyard and their run is 14x16 and I always have free choice pellets available. I do spoil them and give them a treat most days in moderation. They are otherwise very happy birds and one of these days they’re going to trip me and send me to the ER, they are worse than the dogs when it comes to bombarding me. They have a better recall than 99% of dogs out there (including mine) and run/fly in such a frenzy it almost makes me feel special but, I know they’re hoping I have a handful of crickets or grapes.

 

[sourland]

Full crops at the end of the day are pretty normal. Pendulous crops on the other hand -----------

 

[atomic]

I will take note of how they appear in the morning, thanks!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Yes, they do a lot of their digesting at night (thus those tidy little rows of chicken doots in the mornings!), so they tend to load up by the end of the day.

As long as the crop is empty again in the morning, things should be ok.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

It's perfectly normal! My birds are 24/7 free range and they've got big and full crops by bedtime. Empty crops at night or full crops first thing in the morning are both things to be concerned about however.