Burst crop.

Oooh boy, you are up to your head in this, poor Hubby, incredible pictures of what he is thinking in his mind have been painted. You know what we talked about the other morning , think this is a goner chick. But then, who knows with Nurse Hooligan workin' her wonders. Interesting to hear what the end result is. Good luck, happy wishes for that little fuzzy butt (and your Hubby too!!). Have a great night, CynthiaM.

I hope your bubbles under the skin isn't a spreading infection. I did find one entry on treating a sour crop.

I went through a chicken having sour crop. What I ended up doing was feeding it layer pellets mixed with yogurt with live cultures in it and mixing some apple cider vinegar in with the water. Sometimes I mixed a bit of olive oil in with the food too and the chicken loved it. It was easier than trying to get it in the chicken with a syringe tongue You don't want to use too much olive oil though because it can be bad for their livers. It took a few days but I think by the fourth day this chicken had nothing in it's crop one morning and I knew it was all cleaned out! The crop originally felt like a huge water balloon!

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/435373/rr-with-fluid-btwn-skin-body-sour-crop

This one will have to go in the Unsolved File.

That chick looks and sounds like a bagpipe.

After most of yesterday and all night with no food and having that crop emptied several times, it was still not completely empty.

When I returned her to her pen she ate like crazy. When I checked just now the crop is massive, far in excess of any food she might have eaten since there was not that much food out there, and there is a ton of air in the crop! Now when I squeeze the crop, food bubbles out her mouth without even having to tip her upside down. It's almost like each exhale of breath is pushed into her crop! ANd she is making odd wheezing sounds, like a bagpipe.

This problem has been going on for quite a while now and is not resolving. While she does not appear to be in pain, she is (in my opinion) slowly starving to death. Wish I had found something succesful or enlightening to share, but this one looks like a loss.

Oh lawd, let that baby go.....C.

You're right, Cynthia. I have seen chickens come back from injuries that I thought would finish them. But there does come that point where it's just not going to happen, and I think this bird is there.