Sour or impacted crop help!

Chicks n Pipes

Chirping
May 10, 2019
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One of my seven week old chicks has a crop issue I think. This morning she was acting lethargic and seemed skinnier than the others. I fed her some scrambled eggs mixed with grower feed mashed up with electrolytes. She drank the liquid around the edge of that but didn't eat much. She has been drinking like crazy all day.Her crop feels full of water but not hard. She was out on grass for the first time this last week. She is sorta puffy but walking fine. She is also separate from the flock and pooping. What is it and how do I treat it! Of course she is my favorite of the group. Thanks! I will post pictures of her poop and anything else that may be helpful. Let me know what you need pictures of and I will get them.
Edit, I think she is puffy because she's cold. The bin was sitting on our basement floor and it's about 50°down there. I will continue to keep this updated.
 

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Feel her crop. Is it big, soft, and squishy, or is it hard? If it is soft and squishy, then she either has slow or sour crop.
Bring her outside and hold her like a football. Put your hand on her chest and dip her forwards. Clear liquid should come out of her mouth. Do not do this for more than two or three seconds at a time. If she breathes in the fluid, it could kill her. Once some has come out of her mouth, put her on the ground and let her recover. Then do it again. Do this until no more fluid comes out. While you are doing this, check if there are little white bits in the fluid, or if her breath smells. Then she has sour crop and will need some extra care.
If she does not have sour crop, then the care will be rather simple. Separate her from the rest of the flock. Feed her only pellets/crumble soaked in water and a little crushed egg yolk.
Give her some water and put some probiotics in it, either poultry probiotics or children's pobiotics (empty the contents of one capsule into a 1/4 gallon of water).
Before you go to bed, check her crop and see if it is full, then take her food and water away. Tomorrow morning, check and see if her crop has emptied. If it feels full, do the dipping process again. Then give her her food and water. Continue doing this until her crop is full at night and empty in the morning. Then you can bring her back to the coop and continue giving her probiotic water for another week. You can also slowly introduce her to solid foods again, but avoid giving her any seeds for a little while.

Here are some good articles that tell you how to treat different crop problems.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
 

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