***WARNING GRAPHIC PICTURE*** Neural Crest defect.

[silkiechicken]

So I've seen neural crest defects in two day old embryos and always assumed that they would die before fully developing... well.. it is not the case apparently. If you look closely at the picture you can see that there is the chicks brain on the outside of the skull and a ridge in the top beak. The reason for the clef beak and exposed skull is because some sort of developmental cytokine didn't initiate the closure of the neural crest so it remained open. Normally they die but guess this guy made it to the very end, just couldn't pip due to the pressure on the head when pressing up to get out.


Hope you heeded the title if you don't like this kind of stuff. It's a birth defect.

 

[Royicus]

Yep. Just want to make sure that everyone knows that this is a birth defect, not caused by silkiechicken or myself. Poor chick. It fought so hard...

The chick was alive out of the egg, but expired shortly thereafter.

 

[Poison Ivy]

I think any information like this is good to know. Thanks for sharing and to bad for the little guy.

 

[aran]

i wonder if this became a common problem from the parents of this little guy whether supplemental folic acid would help. Its what we use for pregnant woman to decrease the risk of neural tube defects.

 

[Motherhenandflock]

Oh, bless it's little heart!
This is good to know, for future reference.
Glad you had some other happy healthy chicks!

 

[drafthorse39]

thanks for posting this... poor chick I had a chick similiar when i cracked one of my eggs open

 

[birdlover]

poor little baby

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I am not sure what caused it really but I remember a while back reading a research paper about common defects. Aparently exposed brain due to neural crest failure to close was one of the more common ones. Wonder if folic acid would fix it at all, since the neural crest and neural tube are relatively similar. Interesting that the tube must have closed since the crest didn't.

 

[DuckLady]

Silkiechicken, what breed was this?
Was it a crested breed or just a one in a million thing that just happens?

I am sorry this little one lost the fight.

 

[silkiechicken]

That came out of an egg labeled EE/Phoenix. So it wasn't a crested type. I would be less surprised if it was one of the vaulted skull silkies since they often have a hole in their skulls. This one was just weird.