3 week chick - vent issue?

[BigECart]

One of my chicks is looking a little off so I checked the vent and there appears to be a tube hanging out. Any suggestions what to do next?

 

[coach723]

How old is the chick? It's hard to tell from a picture, but it may have prolapsed, if that's not just a long dropping of poop. In a chick that small I would suspect constipation. You need to keep that tissue moist, honey is good for that, hydrocortisone can help shrink any swelling, and then try to put it back inside. Be gentle and try not to damage any tissue. You may have to hold it in for a while to get it to stay, and you may have to repeat that many times, as it may come back out when the chick strains. Just don't let it dry out or it will become necrotic and will die. I would also get some coconut oil in the chick for constipation. You can freeze or refrigerate it, break it into small pieces and feed it to the chick. A tsp of it if you can daily until it's passing normal droppings.

 

[BigECart]

How old is the chick? It's hard to tell from a picture, but it may have prolapsed, if that's not just a long dropping of poop. In a chick that small I would suspect constipation. You need to keep that tissue moist, honey is good for that, hydrocortisone can help shrink any swelling, and then try to put it back inside. Be gentle and try not to damage any tissue. You may have to hold it in for a while to get it to stay, and you may have to repeat that many times, as it may come back out when the chick strains. Just don't let it dry out or it will become necrotic and will die. I would also get some coconut oil in the chick for constipation. You can freeze or refrigerate it, break it into small pieces and feed it to the chick. A tsp of it if you can daily until it's passing normal droppings.

I don’t see the “tube” any more and the chick seems to be acting ok. Chickens have weird poops, but I’ve never seen one quite like that, and at 3 weeks they haven’t been exposed to anything other than crumbles.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on her, and her poops. I have honey and hydrocortisone standing by.

Thank you for your help - I really hope I don’t have to try to put innards back in - they are so tiny and delicate at this age.

 

[coach723]

I've seen long skinny poops, but not one that looked quite like that. Hopefully that's all it was!

 

[BigECart]

I’m still a little concerned with this chick. She eating, pooping, and growing at the same rate as her flock mates but she has a weird head twitch. Behavior seems normal, except that she doesn’t try to avoid my hand when I pick her up. Maybe her breed (Buttercup) is more mellow than any other chick I’ve owned.

I’m linking a video of her twitching her head.

 

[Eggcessive]

She looks like she is preening or pecking at something on her chest. Can you look her over for any moving dots or tiny bugs?

 

[BigECart]

She looks like she is preening or pecking at something on her chest. Can you look her over for any moving dots or tiny bugs?

I will do that - the preening seemed pretty normal to me given that they were settling down for an afternoon chill session on the roosts. She has been doing the head twitch for a bout a week now, long before we had had their play pen set up. Before that, she was in the brooder in the house and I don’t see how she would have gotten exposed to mites/lice. But I will check to eliminate that as a possibility.

 

[coach723]

It also could just be preening since she's feathering out. Maybe her feather shafts are thicker, or just more bothersome to her, some birds do spend more time preening than others. At the 0.08 mark in the video I did see something drop below her (it's really quick) so it could just be feathershafts she's getting off. But I would rule out any mites or lice just to be safe.