Sour crop? [video]

[RodBrandt]

Elsa is a Swedish Flower hen, 10 months old. In the morning, her breast area seems normal, but by day's end it looks as though her crop is very distended. See video crop 1 - morning, and video crop 2 - late afternoon. Note in the second video that her crop is unusually large.

The good news is that the crop appears to be emptying overnight (or mostly emptying). Our concern is that she have an underlying problem, even though things look normal at the start of the day.

Is this normal? She is a big-breasted girl by nature, so perhaps the crops isn't so large after all - not sure what to think.

Nothing unusual in her affect; she doesn't appear to be lethargic or in distress in any way. She is eating and pooping normally. The flock is on pellet layer feed and has been on the same brand since 19 weeks of age. Our bedding is sand, both in the run and coop. Now that the weather is nice, we let them out for supervised free ranging for about 30 min. each day late afternoon.

The swollen crop seems to have coincided with the warmer weather and letting them range. Possibly related? Purely coincidental?

We will treat for sour crop if needed, but don't want to put her through that process unnecessarily.

 

[coach723]

As long as the crop is emptying, then everything is probably fine. Actually feel the crop with your fingers first thing in the morning before she has access to food or water, you should be able to tell if it's empty. Some birds are pigs and really stuff their crops, some eat less more often and they don't look so big. If you find that it's not really emptying, then there could be a problem.

 

[RodBrandt]

As long as the crop is emptying, then everything is probably fine. Actually feel the crop with your fingers first thing in the morning before she has access to food or water, you should be able to tell if it's empty. Some birds are pigs and really stuff their crops, some eat less more often and they don't look so big. If you find that it's not really emptying, then there could be a problem.

Thank you coach723! Will do.