Ruptured air sac or air filled crop

[Mandapanda84]

Can someone please tell me whether this looks like a ruptured air sac injury or an air filled crop? This chick is about a week old. I noticed the air the day before yesterday. Yesterday however, the air seemed to go away. Now this morning she is full of air again. I don’t want to make a puncture if it’s not the right thing to do. Help please!!

 

[NatJ]

Are you sure that contains air?

In the photo, it looks to me like a perfectly normal chick with a crop full of feed.

Do you have other chicks? If so, I suggest looking at the chest area of each of them, and feeling the crop of each one, to get a better idea of what is normal. Then if this one is different, try to explain how this one is different (location, texture, size, etc.)

 

[Mandapanda84]

I am positive it contains air. I have experience with sour/impacted crops with one of my full grown hens. On this chick it is more pronounced on one side as opposed to the middle and yesterday when the air seemed to go away I felt her crop and it felt normal.

 

[Mandapanda84]

I am positive it contains air. I have experience with sour/impacted crops with one of my full grown hens. On this chick it is more pronounced on one side as opposed to the middle and yesterday when the air seemed to go away I felt her crop and it felt normal.

The size of the lump is about the size of a bite size potato and feels like an air bubble

 

[NatJ]

I am positive it contains air. I have experience with sour/impacted crops with one of my full grown hens. On this chick it is more pronounced on one side as opposed to the middle and yesterday when the air seemed to go away I felt her crop and it felt normal.

In that case, I would probably watch but not do anything at present. Since it did empty itself yesterday, that might be a sign that it does not need treatment.

@Eggcessive do you have any better ideas for this chick?

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Depending on breed, some chickens have a secondary air sac about there.

I had a Silkie roo who puffed them up all the time. I thought he was sick or deformed or injured. Nope....just special. It made his chest look huge.

 

[Mandapanda84]

Depending on breed, some chickens have a secondary air sac about there.

I had a Silkie roo who puffed them up all the time. I thought he was sick or deformed or injured. Nope....just special. It made his chest look huge.

She is a blue australorp

 

[Eggcessive]

There are multiple air sacs throughout the body. See article below. I think this can be common. I would not do anything about this at this time. It could be air trapped in the crop as well. You might try gently massaging the crop to see if you get any air. Just do not massage too harshly since that could force food back up into the throat and choke her. She might burp the air out as well. Here is an article with pictures of the air sacs and their location:
https://heiferinyourtank.typepad.co...08/the-bare-bones-of-chicken-respiration.html

 

[Mandapanda84]

Thank you. I have tried “burping” her and nothing seems to be happening, I also don’t want to further injure her. I was able to talk with a friend who has a chicken farm and she also said to leave it alone for now and observe for a week without handling the chick to see if it clears up on its own.