2 Week Old Chick - Red Swollen Vent - Help!?

Hi Everyone -

I posted about this a couple of days ago, but didn't get any response, so now I'm reaching out here in case anyone has any suggestions.

I'm a new chick mom, so maybe I need to just chill out and let things take their course - not sure.

On Monday, I woke up to find one of my babies with her butt looking a little nasty and a bit of a swollen vent. After watching her for a little while, I saw that she seemed a bit constipated - she would strain while trying to poop, make a weird crickety chirp, and then peck at her vent a little after managing to get a small amount of poop out.

After doing a ton of reading and researching, I separated her from the other chicks, tried giving her some yogurt, apple cider vinegar in her water, and cleaning her vent area with some warm water. I then applied some triple antibiotic ointment on the area. Keeping her separated from the others, I was able to watch her eat and drink normally - kept the brooder at about 87, and watched her poop several times - but still the same issue, straining, crying and tiny poops.

On Monday night, I put her back in with her sisters, as I didn't see any reason to separate her any longer and didn't want to distress her too much keeping her by herself.

Yesterday, I woke up and the situation seemed exacerbated. He butt area was just a mess, and even more red and swollen. I tried giving her a warm bath, soaking her bum for 7-10 minutes, and then blow dried her. That helped clean her up a bit, but didn't do much in the way of relieve her. So we tried a little chicken enema, which I read about here. That helped get a little poo out, but seemed more traumatic than anything else. So I haven't done that again. Instead I put her back in the brooder. Last night, she seemed really tired when I went to give each of the chicks social time, so I separated her again from the other girls. She seemed to go right to sleep after eating and drinking a ton. Around 3am, she started screaming, so I put her back in with her sisters and all was well again.

This morning, it's the same. She is super red, swollen and messy on her backside. She eats normally and drinks normally, but just has the major straining issue going on.

At this point, I'm kind of spent, as I don't know what to do for her. Besides constantly looking like she needs to relieve herself and the strain, she is otherwise pretty normal. She walks around a lot. She eats, she drinks, she pecks with her sisters and she seems to be about the same size as the other orpington in my group (the wyandottes and gold stars seem much bigger).

Anyways - what do you guys think? Should i just let this play out? Is there anything else I should try?

Thanks for reading, I know that was a bit long!

Here is Monday's pic:


Here is todays:



I haven't yet given her a bath....

I'm a new mom as well so I feel your pain. One of my girls had a little booty problem too. Are you putting probiotics in their water? If not they sell it at Tractor Supply (if you have one where you live) for around $3 or you could try offering plain yogurt with live cultures in it. This helps their tummys get regulated and might help with the constipation. The constipation is probably what's making her so swollen too. Like humans when we can't go, we strain and that equals hemorrhoids. You could try a little Preparation H or if your not comfortable with that try putting plain ol' sugar on her vent to try to take away some of the swelling. I would also try to keep her separated for a few days too until the swelling and redness goes away. Chickens love the color red so her buddies might try to peck at her bottom and that'll just delay her recovery. Hope this helps and I hope your baby gets better!

Also try soaking her bottom in a bath with some Epsom salt

Thank you so much! I've soaked her bottom a few times now - and she actually seems to like it, as in she closes her eyes and just hangs in the warm water.

I also went out and bought preparation H and have applied that once and will apply again tonight. I had to put her back in with the other girls, as she hates being alone. But she just seems so healthy other than this disturbingly messy butt and straining issue. I hope she gets better, she has one of the better personalities in our group of 5 - plus she's real sweet and snuggly, even with the other chicks.

Ok good. I read on another post that somebody had to separate their chick because of a similar situation as yours and they put them in a smaller container inside of the brooder. The way they described it was all of the chicks could still see each other so the one didn't feel alone but was still protected from the others pecking on it. Just something to think about. I wanted Orpingtons sooooo bad just because I have always heard how lovable they are! I'm not even 100% what my girls lol. Hope she gets better fast!

That's a good idea. If she looks like she can't hold her own, or the others catch on to anything, I've got a plastic container I can use.

Today she seems to be doing better - I think the prep H works really well! But, I've noticed something new. She seems to have a very full crop. Its soft and there isnt anything I can really feel in there, its just really big. So this brings me to my newest conclusion, that maybe she's an over eater and her body cant handle it all? She does always seem to be eating or drinking.

I guess we just have to see how she handles it all...

Hmmm.... Is she's going to the bathroom any better?