baby chick with protruding vent

[my3jsons]

Only a week or so old and this little one has a problem with it's bottom. It seems to be having trouble pooping. No pasty butt though. It's vent is protruding out. I had just cleaned it up in this pic by putting a little pressure on the side to relieve it and then washing it off with a little water. Before that, it looked like it was so full of poop that it's insides were coming out. This has happened twice today.

(Sorry the pic is blurry. My camera was focusing on the wrong end of the chick.

)
This is my third time to raise chicks and this is a new one to me. Any thoughts?

 

[Judy]

I've had this happen with brooder raised chicks. It may be from constipation and straining. You could do a search here.

Is it low in the pecking order and perhaps not getting as much food and water as the others? You could try adding another feeder and waterer if they only have one. Another thought is, if it's a bit warm in the brooder, they can dehydrate quickly. I know it's recommended they should be at around 90F now, but I've always found they did better if it was a bit cooler. When I raised chicks in a 5'x6' pen in the coop this year, they always avoided the heat lamp after a few days, and I would up turning it off at 3 weeks after finding them sleeping as far as they could from it. Outside temps were in the 60's at night. Maybe just raising your heat source to drop the temp some would help.

 

[WVweaver]

I have a chick with the identical problem that yours had. What did you end up doing for the chick and how did it turn out? Thanks.