Swollen Breast 3 Week Old Chick

[Barefoot Farm VT]

Not sure what to make of this one. 3 week old chick had a large crop 2 days ago. I always expect a big plump crop when visiting them first thing after sunrise, after chowing down their morning meal. The chick I am posting about, the crop has only seemed to grow larger and swollen. Like things are going in and not out. Chick walks hunched over and not upright. Cannot peep like the others, but still moves as speedily. This is a group of about 50 chicks, 25 per brooder. Eating chick starter/grower 20% from Dumor. Feeders and waterers never less than half full. Always 2 TB of ACV in the water per gallon. They have had a sprinkle of 2 of chick grit into their food as well as 1 clump of sod a week back, totally gone by now. Gave the sick chick a dropper of ACV last night and a little upside down massage to see if the crop would clear out the top end, no luck.

 

[DobieLover]

Not sure what to make of this one. 3 week old chick had a large crop 2 days ago. I always expect a big plump crop when visiting them first thing after sunrise, after chowing down their morning meal. The chick I am posting about, the crop has only seemed to grow larger and swollen. Like things are going in and not out. Chick walks hunched over and not upright. Cannot peep like the others, but still moves as speedily. This is a group of about 50 chicks, 25 per brooder. Eating chick starter/grower 20% from Dumor. Feeders and waterers never less than half full. Always 2 TB of ACV in the water per gallon. They have had a sprinkle of 2 of chick grit into their food as well as 1 clump of sod a week back, totally gone by now. Gave the sick chick a dropper of ACV last night and a little upside down massage to see if the crop would clear out the top end, no luck.

I would isolate the chick near the heat source and only provide fresh clean water with nothing else in it. No food for now. Once the crop clears, you can offer food to her again.
Give her about a tsp of either mineral or coconut oil. And very carefully give her about 12 mls of water. I hold the head slightly up (just enough to keep the water from dribbling out), pry open the beak and very slowly dribble water into the beak until they swallow. Don't overly restrain the head, go very slowly and they will work with you getting water into them. After you get the oil and water in, gently massage the crop for a minute or two. Do not attempt to vomit the chick. You can easily aspirate her.
Check her in an hour and give her another 12 mls of water and another crop massage.
Check her again in another hour. If the crop is going down, continue with the water and the massages. Once the crop is empty, offer her a very wet mash of her starter. Don't put ACV in her water or in the feed. You can put a small amount of Greek yogurt in the mash. Continue to monitor her crop function.
Leave her isolated over night with NO food or water. Check her pre-dawn to see if the crop is now fully flat and empty. If it is, you can let her back out with the rest of the chicks.
I would put all the chicks on a very wet mash and remove the ACV from the water. Give plenty of fresh clean water only.
They are also old enough to have their grit offered in a secure container on the side.
What type of bedding are you using? Have you seen this one eating it?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Giving the chick a few chunks of hardened coconut oil will get things moving along. The chick may be impacted, so after you give the coconut oil massage the crop in a circular motion, & you should feel the food contents go down the crops tube.
Yes, do not make the chick vomit.

You may have to repeat the coconut oil, & crop massage a few times, or a couple days depending on how bad it is.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with giving water to help clear the crop. Take the chick grit out of the food and put it in a seperate container away from food. I suspect that she is impacted with grit. They only need it when they eat foods or grass other than chick feed. So you could take it out altogether until they are older.

 

[Barefoot Farm VT]

Thanks for the responses. I’ll get started with the coconut oil and massages. I have a separate quarantine brooder setup just for these instances.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thanks for the responses. I’ll get started with the coconut oil and massages. I have a separate quarantine brooder setup just for these instances.

I had a 4-5 week chick with an impacted crop last year.
Wish you luck.

 

[Barefoot Farm VT]

*Update*

I started with the bit of coconut oil, ~12ml of water, and a crop massage. Repeated the water and massage once an hour 3 times on Sunday 5/26/2020 and there was drastic improvement. Left her in the "hospital brooder" overnight. She was much improved yesterday (Monday 5/25/2020). Not very swollen and firm, but still a little enlarged and flabby, like a balloon you blew up to big and is flabby when you let the air out. Kept her isolated all Monday just to keep a better eye on her, offered wet mash, which she gobbled up. Spoon fed water twice. This morning (Tuesday 5/26/2020) it's still much improved but a repeat of my old balloon analogy above. I'm thinking about putting her back in with the others. She is holding her head up high again, plenty of energy and peeping now.

Thanks again for the assist! I may be posting again later as I'm told by my daughters that one chick has a bloody butt.