Please Help!!! our favorite chick is not opening her eyes

[Biddieacres]

she has been closing her eyes standing up and her head and tail hanging down. I don't know how to check for a buldging crop but her chest looks full. She is an easter egger so she is fluffy but now sure whats wrong. Please help! thought she was overheated but brought her in and she is the same. she is 9 weeks

 

[Biddieacres]

she justs hopped down and is slowly eating some food. I have to leave for the day and am so worried she will die while I am gone.

 

[chicksinthemachine]

Keep her cool while you are gone, do you have something cool to feed her,like watermelon? Also from what I've read they tend to take a couple of days to bounce back from overheating.

 

[dlhunicorn]

you need to put electrolytes in her waterer... your feed store should have this. You can use pedialyte diluted or even gatorade as an emergency substitute. Do not give any scratch or grains.. add cooked oatmeal (human.cook in water not milk) to her feed so it wont be dry. you can also give her some live culture plain yogurt.

 

[Biddieacres]

OK I have the electrolytes but I just noticed that she looks swollen in the neck chest area. Could this be that bulging crop I hear about. If so what do I do about that???

 

[dlhunicorn]

it should go down overnite...check it first thing in the morning.

 

[Biddieacres]

I am so happy to hear that but also so scared she will die. I see people doing their own surgury on the crop. I thought she may need surgery. Do you know why it is swollen then goes down?

 

[dlhunicorn]

the crop is a "storage" compartment and the feed moved through ... what you have heard about crop problems is that sometimes it does not empty (for various reasons such as long strings of grass and straw "blocking " it or even systemic illness causing it to slow and not move the feed through)

 

[Biddieacres]

so it is not life threatening, It is just something they have to work through?

 

[Biddieacres]

Quote:
Your right. It did seem to go down overnight. I am a nervous first time chicken owner. I think I will get used to this soon enough and not worry. I am going to keep an eye on her today. She seems to be walking around with the rest but is still taking time out and just perching alone. At least her eyes are open today. Thanks for the support.