My 3mo old EE drools and I don't know if I should worry about it

[crowber]

I have 4 pullets that are about 3 months old. My Easter egger always seems like she has too much saliva. It's always clear, and she's eating and active and doesn't seem sick otherwise. I don't know if it's just a quirk of hers or if this is a sign of something. She's been drooly for a while, and her muffs are stiff from dried drool. Let me know if this is something I should be treating!

 

[Dephora]

is her crop draining? have you noticed any sneezing or coughing? Has she been open mouth breathing and "gasping"?

 

[crowber]

Nope, no other symptoms. Just drool.

When I was googling around, it seems like a lot of other people with chickens that did this without otherwise looking sick were talking about ameraucanas. So I'm wondering if it's just something about ameraucanas/Easter eggers?

 

[crowber]

I think I was wrong, maybe her crop isn't draining properly. I woke up early today to try and check her before she started eating and it feels pretty full and squishy still. I'm going to pick up a crate and isolate her for a day without food and see if it goes down. I don't think she has sour crop, but she might have slow crop, so want to fix this before it gets worse.

I'm new to this so I don't have any frame of reference to what this is supposed to feel like. I picked up my other chickens and their crops don't seem obvious like hers.

 

[Dephora]

If you catch it early enough it wont smell very sour. It starts first as an impacted and won't go sour until yeast and other nastiness grows in the stuck food. Did it go down?

 

[crowber]

Yep, it went down. So maybe not so bad after all. After it went down I gave her greek yogurt and eggs, and will just have her eat that for another day and make sure things are moving.

 

[Dephora]

Are they still drooling like crazy?

 

[crowber]

Not that I can tell.