is there anything wrong with a chick if it has a puffy breast??/ It acts normally as the others but has a very noticable puffed up breast. It is a Blk Copper Marans about 4 weeks old. They are eating medicated chick crumbles and I give them finely chopped apples 2 x's a day(half small apple a day). I gave them a big container of cottage cheese over a week period and they loved it but way to messy. I have 10 total chicks, 5 Blk Copper Marans and 5 Araucana all in same big dog kennel. I change their water 3 or 4 times a day as they get shavings in it. I change out their deep pine shavings litter every 3 days and they are kept at a minimum temp of 75 now.
Am I doing anything wrong???
Question??
Forgive me for asking, but are you sure it's not the craw that's just over full from all those goodies? I usually end up with at least one piggy in a bunch......and the breast is pretty hard to see unless there's something extreme going on.
Sorry if that's no help...
it looks like the whole center of thechest area if puffed up. I know what a craw is but not where it is located. I am new to raising chickens.
Don't want to tell you what I came up with when I googled chick with puffy breast!!!
I can imagine... ROFLMBO
Mine did that.. it was just the craw being really full. My roos all looked like they had been on steroids. I was worried at first but after a couple days they were flat chested again. now it puffs out to the side a bit instead of right in front.
The craw is just above the breast...if you feel around and there's no bone or anything like -just a big blob of something that moves around- then it's probably a full craw. The breast would be more towards the ground and I can't imagine its being anything but hard, even if it is swollen. Overfull birds also have a really funny profile...
that's what it appears to be it then. I massaged it a little and is like a big sponge squishing around.
I just took them outside for their first outing since it was warm enough and had a little sunshine. I put them in a new cage that is under construction. They were afraid for the first 10 minutes then they realized they were standing on fresh tender rye grass. They loved it. One would get a piece of dry leaf and squeel with delight untill the others ran over to snatch it away. They flew, hopped, squared off at each other and had a really good time lol
lol....chickeny-goodness getting to you?? ;)
LOL That would be fun to watch...
Pulled they baby last night and put it by its self. Poor thing looks like its crop is going to explode. It is drinking a lot of water this morning but hasn't eaten. I put a small amount of feed and a couple of tiny pieces of apple and grape. It had a normal looking poop this morning but now looks like liquid and tiny rocks. Last night when i had it out holding it and massaging its crop it would stretch its neck out and wiggle side to side. Think it is trying to get it down. Hope it is not impacted as I have read about. Is having a little bit of a hard time getting up and walking but other wise seems fine so far. Any suggestions??
It does sound as if it may be impacted--very young chickens are supposed to have a tendency to get an impacted crop when they first eat grass--especially if it is dry or tough.
This site goes into great detail on the various causes and treatments for impacted and sour "craw/crop". It is aimed at birds in general, but mentions that cold, rainy weather can lead to sour crop in young birds:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1161893898
haven't had any grass until a few of days ago and it was already puffed out. They are inside house so rain/ damp not the cause. Will go thru suggested site. Thanks so much for the help