swollen breast!?

[jm22508]

I love this place! I just got home this evening and got my four chicks out to run around for a bit and noticed my Dominique had what felt like a swollen, squishy boob. I figured there was no way I'd find search results on "swollen breast," and this was the first thing I came across! This makes me feel much better. I've been overly worried about any little thing since I lost my RIR, June, on Saturday, at three days old. I sure hope this is just a full crop.

 

[six_eclectic_chickens]

It is just that she stuffed herself. Chickens do that. The chicken starring as my avatar eats so much it doesn't seem physically possible. She isn't even fat. However she does run EVERYWHERE and lay an egg every single day without fail. Marvelous chicken. Something you should be mindful of is crop impactation. If it stays stuffed, and she doesn't seem to be pooping, then try massaging her crop, and feed small amounts of yogurt mixed with olive oil. This helped one of our older (4 year) hens get over crop impactation. The next day her box (we brought her inside) was full of massive piles of poop. It is also good to mix olive oil into their food occasionally to prevent this, as after a couple days surgically removing the blockage is the only way of stopping the hen from dying. Bread is the biggest cause of crop impactation as it expands and can get stuck. By the way, the idea of massaging the crop is to loosen the blockage, and hopefully to get the hen to vomit it up. Don't be surprised if she starts gagging and opening and closing her mouth. That is a sign you are succeeding. The crop impactation info is just in case. It may happen at some point and it is better to be prepared rather than surprised.

 

[jm22508]

Thank you six. That's great info!

 

[Miraaa]

Sorry, did you just say that you fed your chicken scrambeled eggs?!

 

[bgrantalasykes]

So just to clarify, a swollen crop is just to the one side in my case also right side. I would've thought it'd be centered. Just a bit worried, these are the first chickens I've ever had and the one with the swollen crop is the on I'm most attached to. Thanks everyone!

 

[lulu420]

I just discovered this swollen crop in my three little chicks after they drank a TON of water...what a relief to find out that it's completely normal! They also spit up some water if they jumped up onto something, so this just confirms that they just gorged themselves Thanks for the information!

 

[THE O]

the best info ever...i incubated 13 little ones, 2 of them got this Swollen Breast one afternoon... I thought it was a tuma, didn't want to see them die....Thahanks to yourself and Google, I waited and you were right, awsome.

 

[work0222]

Whew! I almost took a massive syringe to my chick to drain the crop.. guess I'll be patient now and see what it looks like in the a.m...

 

[Chickie Mommie]

So thankful for this info. I'm also new to this & found my Chickadie (I'm kinda attached to her) with the swollen boob. Was worried but glad to know that it is a normal thing....whew! Mahalo!!

 

[wally escondido]

Our black silkie, Tanikwa, has a crop that is chock-a-block-full so often it has worn the feathers off from lightly scraping along the ground. I hope that's normal, as my concern led me hear to begin with. Though slightly relieved, it'd be nice for some reassurance from any other silkie owners please.