lethargic chick with enlarged crop(?)

[kathyinmo]

OH, what GREAT news! I am so glad Sarah Beth is doing so much better!

 

[threehorses]

Whew, that sounds like some scary but good timing!! Wow!

I hope you're right - it would certainly make sense. If things can't go through, the crop will back up.

 

[missalis]

I know his thread is very old, but the information on here is great and I was hoping for some advice on a very similar situation I am having with a younger speckled Sussex chick. She is about 3 weeks old and seems to really be having a hard time. I have been scouring the internet trying to find ANYTHING I can to help this poor little thing.

She started acting lethargic, hunched over with eyes closed and not interacting with the other chicks. That was last week and I thought maybe the others were keeping her from the food and water (she is smaller than them by about 1/2). So I separated her for a few days, gave probiotics/electrolytes and egg yolk, and mixed her starter crumbles with water to soften them. After one night she seemed better, eating on her own but still slow. 3 days of that and she was back to full energy, acting like a normal chick. But I did notice her crop seemed full all the time.

She was still eating/drinking/pooping normally, so I decided to put her back with her flock. I felt SO bad leaving her alone but she needed to gain her strength back and it seemed to work so I stuck with it. After reintroducing her she was great for a couple days. Happily pecking and being part of the flock. I would reach in and gently rub her full crop every so often to try and get some stuff to move through, and it did. In the mornings before feeding it would be less full, but still stuff in there.

Just last night I noticed now her crop is full of liquid. She resumed acting droopy and lethargic, not moving or interacting. I separated her from the others again, and provided water with probiotics/electrolytes because that seemed to help her last time. But now she's not perking up. Could this be a slow or sour crop?? I have tried the method of trying to gently push the stuff up and out, but I'm so afraid of aspiriation. I feel like I've been intensively caring for this chick and doing all I can and it's just not working! She got better then got worse. She is still only half the size of the others and feathering out much slower. Maybe there is just something internally wrong? Any advice would be appreciated. I don't want her to suffer, but if there's something I can do to fix her of course I am willing to.