Chickalishdelish
In the Brooder
Hello,
Totally new to chicken keeping and this week I made the amateur mistake of letting my girls freerange in our garden which has some longer grass in areas where my extension cord plus strimmer meant I couldn't get to cut it.
I noticed yesterday morning that the crop of one of my chickens felt harder than the others and I saw her trying to gag, as if to be sick, a couple of times. The crop wasn't huge (no more than a golf ball) but I was a bit worried anyway. I isolated her with water, making sure she drank, and massaged it every couple of hours. She was pooping normally and by the afternoon I began thinking I was imagining a problem and let her out with the free rangers again (after having bought a longer extension and cutting all the grass properly).
This morning is the same thing - the crop isn't huge but it definitely hadn't emptied fully and it did feel harder than the other girls. Again I've administered water and massaged. I had a go at turning her upside down and following advice to try and empty her - as yet nothing has come out, but I've maybe not given it a proper go because I don't want to cause her unnecessary distress if I'm over-reacting. Today she does seem a little less active, but so are the other girls as it's been raining all day. She is still bright eyed and chatty.
Am I being a paranoid novice keeper? Shall I just continue to keep an eye, or keep at my attempts to make her sick?
Totally new to chicken keeping and this week I made the amateur mistake of letting my girls freerange in our garden which has some longer grass in areas where my extension cord plus strimmer meant I couldn't get to cut it.
I noticed yesterday morning that the crop of one of my chickens felt harder than the others and I saw her trying to gag, as if to be sick, a couple of times. The crop wasn't huge (no more than a golf ball) but I was a bit worried anyway. I isolated her with water, making sure she drank, and massaged it every couple of hours. She was pooping normally and by the afternoon I began thinking I was imagining a problem and let her out with the free rangers again (after having bought a longer extension and cutting all the grass properly).
This morning is the same thing - the crop isn't huge but it definitely hadn't emptied fully and it did feel harder than the other girls. Again I've administered water and massaged. I had a go at turning her upside down and following advice to try and empty her - as yet nothing has come out, but I've maybe not given it a proper go because I don't want to cause her unnecessary distress if I'm over-reacting. Today she does seem a little less active, but so are the other girls as it's been raining all day. She is still bright eyed and chatty.
Am I being a paranoid novice keeper? Shall I just continue to keep an eye, or keep at my attempts to make her sick?
