My 2 almost 3 week old chick looks like this today.

[GApeachmama]

At first I thought it was pin feathers but the area is kind of squishy. She’s eating, drinking. The other chicks are pecking at the spot. What is going on?

 

[Slothinc]

If you are talking about the lump on her right side sticking out, it is probably her crop. It will normally be pretty full by the end of the day and then should empty overnight.

 

[GApeachmama]

If you are talking about the lump on her right side sticking out, it is probably her crop. It will normally be pretty full by the end of the day and then should empty overnight.

I thought it might be her crop. How would I know if it’s impacted?

 

[500Chickens]

Can you be more clear about the issue? She looks fine to me

 

[Anon112]

Do you mean that you think its chest looks a bit distended? I'm also having trouble figuring out what "the spot" is.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Can you get a close-up of the area that concerns you? Maybe spread the feathers apart and see if there is an injury on the skin or something?

 

[Slothinc]

I thought it might be her crop. How would I know if it’s impacted?

Check it first thing in the morning! If it is very full before she has eaten anything then there might be an issue. From the pics it looks normal to me.

Just for fun I took a pic of the crop on my little NN chick. It is really obvious on the NN and on the ones with light skin you can kind of see their food sitting in the crop (it is yellow instead of pink like the rest of the skin)

 

[GApeachmama]

Do you mean that you think its chest looks a bit distended? I'm also having trouble figuring out what "the spot" is.

Yes. The distended chest. I was writing on the fly while trying to keep my kids calm.

 

[GApeachmama]

Check it first thing in the morning! If it is very full before she has eaten anything then there might be an issue. From the pics it looks normal to me.

Just for fun I took a pic of the crop on my little NN chick. It is really obvious on the NN and on the ones with light skin you can kind of see their food sitting in the crop (it is yellow instead of pink like the rest of the skin)

This puts me at ease. My 13 yr old was panicking and told my 9 yr to not be surprised when the chick died.

 

[GApeachmama]

Can you get a close-up of the area that concerns you? Maybe spread the feathers apart and see if there is an injury on the skin or something

I didn’t see any injuries on the skin. Initially I thought it was asymmetrical due to the pin feathers growing in funky.