Two week old with impacted crop!

[Chick - n - Rachel]

Hello.
One of my two week olds seems to have over done the chick starter, sand or treats. She appears to have an impacted crop.

I gave them all a small amount of treats on Monday, lettuce and apple chopped realy small, with some sand from outside (Im in Florida) and then the same today. Laura's crop was larger this morning but I wasnt too concerned as Ive seen it in all of them and it goes down. However when I got home from work it was twise the size.

Shes acting normal, eating, drinking and pooing, and the crop is fairly soft, not hard. I checked up on BYC and did what had been previously sudgested - to isolate her, take away the chick starter and provide bread soaked in olive oil, and of course fresh water. I read to keep her that way for 24 hours. Shes hateing it though!

Am I doing this right, is there anything else I could be doing to help her procces whatever is in her crop. What should I do if its not gone down by morning, its 6.25pm now. Her breath smells a little fishy, Im worried about sour crop. These are my first chicks, so any tips will be most welcome.

Oh, and is it normal for them to eat all of the sand? Both times I put in about half a cup, maybe a little less, and it all went! Thanks for your input!!

 

[Renee]

Hi there,

You should take them off the treats and the sand and just give chick starter for a week.

Is she pooping?

She probably does not have an impacted or sour crop. As chicks get older, their crops expand. The only way to tell is to check it in the morning and see if it is still really big. If she is not pooping, then you may have a problem.

You don't want them eating too much sand at their age. They don't know how much to eat yet. The chick starter is small enough so that they do not need much grit.

Finally, I don't think you need to separate her from the other chicks as long as you have confirmed that she has normal poop. She will be happier with the others.

Good luck!

 

[Chick - n - Rachel]

Well Laura's doing just fine!!

Her crop went down by about 90%. I think Im going to stop all treats till there 10 weeks old and can have the proper chicken grit I have waiting for them. Thanks for the advise!

 

[GaDawg]

Yea! What would we do without BYC !!

 

[LynneP]

(That's a lot of sand!) If your starter crumbles have grit, do you need sand...

Chick might like some yogurt or scrambles eggs. Could be some core in the crop and since it's soft it should pass. I'm guessing this one might be gulping sand, too...glad to hear she's doing better...