Swelling on chicken

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Can anyone help me please. I bought two pol chickens just before Easter. One white sussex and another brown one - not sure what it is! The brown one has started to lay eggs and they both seem to get on well. They are free range in part of my garden but yesterday I noticed that the brown one was rather lethargic and did not seem 'right'. On examination she seems to have a swelling on her front - I am not convinced it is her crop as the swelling seems rather to one side. She spends a lot of time stretching her neck and twisting it about as if there is something stuck in her throat. She seems a bit better today but I am still worried. She is still laying but has a messy vent - white stuff - should I be anxious? I have not had chickenss before and am keeping them really as pets with egs as a bonus! Any ideas please
 
Crops do tend to sit slightly to the side. The surest way to check for a crop problem is to check the crop when they go in to roost at night. It should feel full and not hot to touch. It may be hard feeling if you've fed corn not long before and you should be able to clearly feel the grains. Don't squeeze too hard or anything but give it a good check over.

Then before you let them out in the morning or feed them (or allow them to drink) you need to check that the crop is empty. It may feel a bit squishy but should be pretty flat to the chest.

If its still full, mushy or hot to the touch then there is probably something wrong.

Neck streching can indicate a few other things possibly wrong but I always give a chook a few days before starting to poke and prod. Unless of course they are really ill and its clear they need more immediate attention. Often minor things we notice clear up on their own.
 
thank you for taking the time to respond. I think it is possibly an impacted crop - not confident enough to treat this myself so will check her out this morning and probably take her to the vet.
 
There are a few things you can do re a crop problem.

I have posted a number of times in other threads about how to treat an impacted crop. Have a search of the forum for posts made by me and with the word 'crop' in them. Should turn up something.

I'm happy to help advice wise, just don't have the time to re write it all here atm.
 
We put the crop information into an FAQ:

Impacted Crop / Sour Crop FAQ

If the crop is emptying, I would also suspect worms (in particular Gape Worm) if she hasn't been wormed recently. These sit in the trachea or wind pipe and cause the bird to stretch the neck to breathe properly.

Tim
 
Although we have kept hens for twelve months, we have only recently encountered our first hen health problems, which could be similar to your hen health problems.

We lost our first hen on 1st April with symptoms similar to sour crop (Sick Hen! Help!) and we have today lost a second hen, again with symptoms similar to sour crop. Whilst the first hen died a few days after emptying the crop, the second hen died very suddenly, possibly choking on solids having already emptied much liquid through the mouth.

I did notice the second hen stretching her neck and gaping at some point yesterday and the post by Tim mentions the possibility of gape worm. Is it possible that gape worm leads to digestive tract problems and subsequently to sour crop?
 
No, sour crop is basically thrush - so it is a yeast in the crop.

Gape worm start in the digestive system but make their way up to the trachea (wind pipe) and mate (join together). They are then Y shaped and blood red in colour. They can cause tracheal rattle (sounds like bubling while the bird is breathing) that can be confused with other respiritory problems like Mycoplasma G. (Roup).
 
P.S - if the birds are wormed with flubenvet, there should be no gapeworm - it is common on ground that has wild pheasants.
 
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