enemas save lives, baby chick in pain, not pooping

I am brand new to posting on BYC, though I have refered to this site for the past ten days to get my chick through. I am so thankful for this forum, I have learned soooo much and saved my chicks life because of the tips I got here!

ENEMAS are a scary idea when you are new to raising chicks. They are so small. My chick (8 days old) had an almost marble sized hard ball just under it's vent and wasn't pooping even though it was wiggling and struggling to. I tried so many things but what ultimately worked was a dropper full of warm water. It didn't work immediately. Actually the first couple of times I tried to gently squeeze the water into the vent and just as soon as I removed the dropper it squirted out like a squirt gun. It couldn't get past the blockage, which was too big to pass. Poor thing cried and really suffered for a few days. Not able to lay down, sleeping standing up and overall just a sad chick. I decided I didn't have much to lose. So I put the end of the dropper in just far enough so that the water couldn't escape. It takes a few tries unfortunately. The third time I did it, after the first two water poops, the chick sort of retained the water for a few hours which allowed the poop to slightly soften enough to get things started. It was slow goin, but eventually we were able to get out a good poop. I did maybe 5 enemas total with quite a few hours between for the chick to recoup from the stress. Then things start moving again!

I got this tip from this site when all hope was lost. Today (two days later) this chick can now eat and drink and best of all poop on her own. She is still weak but improving hourly since the last big lump of poop came out. They said you might have to do it a few times, which was true in my case. I'm so greatful for the tip!

Also, yogurt, molasses (as a gentle laxative), duramycin, vita-sol
Remedies that I found researching my chicks symptoms. Search these words if you have a small chick with problems. A combination of these remedies have been so successful for my chick and I wouldn't have known what to do at all!

Good luck, and don't give up

Just an update... The chick is now 8 weeks old and doing great. I am so glad we toughed it out! BYC forum has all the info you need.

A chicken enema! I never thought of that. Glad it worked for your chick, though.

Hello my 2week old chick is suffer from the same problem .early in the morning i gave him feed with yougort what many people suggested here byc .and also giving him ORS .his food is digested .he cant poo now he was doing it with pain watery poo in the day time.he is in soo much pain even when i touch him he cries with pain.my last option is going to be your idea .i am hoping it will help him.

That's great news! And good information to know- thank you!

I just wanted to add, I just had a chick who was straining to go- and once the poo was out, her vent was inflamed, so I put some Preparation H (the ointment, not the creme, although the creme might work well too) on her vent and it helped her all the more. I think it helps lube and protect the skin from further inflammation and irritation. Just a dab is needed and works to soothe the soreness. I found that after I put it on her vent, she would poo almost immediately- so maybe it too has a softening effect?

Anyway, glad your peep is ok and many thanks for sharing!

Chickenlooko said:

I am brand new to posting on BYC, though I have refered to this site for the past ten days to get my chick through. I am so thankful for this forum, I have learned soooo much and saved my chicks life because of the tips I got here!

ENEMAS are a scary idea when you are new to raising chicks. They are so small. My chick (8 days old) had an almost marble sized hard ball just under it's vent and wasn't pooping even though it was wiggling and struggling to. I tried so many things but what ultimately worked was a dropper full of warm water. It didn't work immediately. Actually the first couple of times I tried to gently squeeze the water into the vent and just as soon as I removed the dropper it squirted out like a squirt gun. It couldn't get past the blockage, which was too big to pass. Poor thing cried and really suffered for a few days. Not able to lay down, sleeping standing up and overall just a sad chick. I decided I didn't have much to lose. So I put the end of the dropper in just far enough so that the water couldn't escape. It takes a few tries unfortunately. The third time I did it, after the first two water poops, the chick sort of retained the water for a few hours which allowed the poop to slightly soften enough to get things started. It was slow goin, but eventually we were able to get out a good poop. I did maybe 5 enemas total with quite a few hours between for the chick to recoup from the stress. Then things start moving again!

I got this tip from this site when all hope was lost. Today (two days later) this chick can now eat and drink and best of all poop on her own. She is still weak but improving hourly since the last big lump of poop came out. They said you might have to do it a few times, which was true in my case. I'm so greatful for the tip!

Also, yogurt, molasses (as a gentle laxative), duramycin, vita-sol
Remedies that I found researching my chicks symptoms. Search these words if you have a small chick with problems. A combination of these remedies have been so successful for my chick and I wouldn't have known what to do at all!

Good luck, and don't give up

Click to expand...

My chick is suffering with this now
Tried everything
What is in the enema solution

OP said just warm water. Good luck!

Cleaned it agian and gently pick again at it gave her sugar water and she pooped a big one
So hopefully she will be okay
Redness is going down and she ate a bit
This is like having a baby around
This is my first time doing this

Chickenlooko said:

I am brand new to posting on BYC, though I have refered to this site for the past ten days to get my chick through. I am so thankful for this forum, I have learned soooo much and saved my chicks life because of the tips I got here!

ENEMAS are a scary idea when you are new to raising chicks. They are so small. My chick (8 days old) had an almost marble sized hard ball just under it's vent and wasn't pooping even though it was wiggling and struggling to. I tried so many things but what ultimately worked was a dropper full of warm water. It didn't work immediately. Actually the first couple of times I tried to gently squeeze the water into the vent and just as soon as I removed the dropper it squirted out like a squirt gun. It couldn't get past the blockage, which was too big to pass. Poor thing cried and really suffered for a few days. Not able to lay down, sleeping standing up and overall just a sad chick. I decided I didn't have much to lose. So I put the end of the dropper in just far enough so that the water couldn't escape. It takes a few tries unfortunately. The third time I did it, after the first two water poops, the chick sort of retained the water for a few hours which allowed the poop to slightly soften enough to get things started. It was slow goin, but eventually we were able to get out a good poop. I did maybe 5 enemas total with quite a few hours between for the chick to recoup from the stress. Then things start moving again!

I got this tip from this site when all hope was lost. Today (two days later) this chick can now eat and drink and best of all poop on her own. She is still weak but improving hourly since the last big lump of poop came out. They said you might have to do it a few times, which was true in my case. I'm so greatful for the tip!

Also, yogurt, molasses (as a gentle laxative), duramycin, vita-sol
Remedies that I found researching my chicks symptoms. Search these words if you have a small chick with problems. A combination of these remedies have been so successful for my chick and I wouldn't have known what to do at all!

Good luck, and don't give up

Click to expand...

Hi!! Dealing with this with a chick I’ve had for a week now. She woke me up this morning with a consistent chirp I’ve never heard before and she’s indeed bound up and struggling. She had foamy poo on her bum that I cleaned off. I soaked her for 30 mins in warm water but she’s still struggling. I tried an enema but the water doesn’t really come back out.. is this good? I tried like 3 times and only the third time I seen a little water trickle back out. Most of it stayed in and this worried me. What do you recommend??

Hello, I am beyond grateful to OP (Chuckelooko) for posting their experience with the enema. I am convinced it saved my 3 weeks old chick's life.
I will share my story and what worked for me. It ended up being a long post, I did not intend it this way, but I also wanted to give the relevant details.

This little chick was attacked by a woodchuck (who was going for their grain actually) and her sides were wounded to the point where I feared the skin will rip and guts will come out. In desperation, I used "liquid skin" to prevent that from happening, but in retrospect I would never use that stuff again, especially on a young chick. But then again, the alternative would have been guts spilled out.

Long story short, this chick stopped pooping, only drainning some foul smelling liquid, feathers gone on her abdomen, and the abdomen started swelling like a balloon.
I did remove some solid poop from the cloaca with a Q-tip for a couple of days, but I stopped because I was concerned I would cause a prolapse.
I gave her regular 2x day baths in Epson salts, and gave her molases, coconut oil, yogurt, and everything else i could find on this site and other. I felt horribly helpless for not being able to help her more.

Unfortunately, I also mentally prepared to cull her, but this chick was still eating and drinking and I could not give up on her before she did!

This chick did not poop for almost 11 days!!

It also started developing sour crop by day 9- so it was all puffed up from head to tail and vomitting. Her legs could barely sustain her and they were so far apart, she looked like a duck. She has slept standing all these days!

By day 11 her belly was so hard and purple, it was paintfull just to look at her. That's when I googled in desperation "enema in chicks" (my daughter suggested this earlier, but I dismissed it as "crazy"-- little did I know!).

I then also found a scientific article (I am sure now that there are more out there) about enema in one day old chicks, which gave me some idea about dimensions and volumes and convinced me that I will not hurt my 3 weeks old if I am careful.


Now onto what worked for me when I did the enema.

I used the syringe in the picture; the tip is hard, and I was concerned at first, but it worked out well. I made sure the end of the tip was not sharp ( I sanded it a bit).
I had a soft, rubbery tube, but it was a bit too large and since the syringe worked well, I did not use the tube.
I used salt water at first, but after that just warm water.
I was VERY, VERY gentle, as to not cause more damage than good.

It took me 3 hours! Yes, not a typo, 3 hours.
It was not a one time flush and go, but many, many, many little flushes.
Because my chick was so backed up, I started with .5 mL of liquid, but even then I sort of allowed a route of escape for the liquid, basically making sure the water can drain out, should it encounter resistance.
And it did drain out at first.
The "un-clogging" did not happen in one go; but very little every time, a bit of slurry (water and sandy looking poop) would come out.
I kept the chick in a warm tub all this time, and replaced the water often, so the chick would not stay in dirty water. I ended up using just warm water for flushes, when I realized how long it will take to flush out the intestines and I did not want to hurt the intestines in case my salt solution was too concentrated.

As more slurry was coming out, I could push the syringe a bit deeper (I never went beyond 2 cm, which I marked with a sharpie, as in the picture) and also push more water in--2, 3, 4 mL- but I always made sure to not create a seal at the vent, so as to not built pressure into the intestines and brake them.

After three hours, her belly was not longer hard and her legs looked closer to normal (not as spread, as in the second picture).

Instead of giving Save a chick probiotics in the water, I dissolved a pinch of the powder in 1 mL of water and gave it with a syringe (so, much more concentrated than the label suggests).

This little girls never stopped eating and drinking throughout the 11 days ordeal, but after her enema, she ate voraceously, as if she knew that she had a lot of catching up to do.
By the evening, she had a nice, hard crop (no more sour crop).
I have not yet seen a formed poop from her (I was concerned some muscles/nerves might have been damaged during the woodchuck attack) but she is passing some sort of poop. I am monitoring her and hope that she will make a full recovery.

I was already aware of the amazing resilience of chickens, but this little one put up an incredible fight.
Wishing you all as many happy recoveries as possible and my deep gratitude to the OP!