Constipated chick with swollen vent

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iopele

iopele

Songster
12 Years
Apr 13, 2007
244
12
141
Texas
My 8 day old Araucana chick (Domino) was acting funny this morning--I put my hand in with some treats and Domino didn't even investigate--so I picked him up and examined him. His vent is very swollen and red, I thought maybe he'd been pecked but I can't see any evidence of that. It's just swollen. His fuzz below his rear was really messy too, but he's not pasted. As I was cleaning him up his vent opened and I could see a lot of poop in there, but I don't think he can poop. I have a very soft plastic "scoop" for removing earwax so I used that to remove only the poop I could see, then put Domino back in the brooder and watched.

So far Domino's squatted twice, wiggling his butt and chirping loud, but nothing's coming out. Watching his vent contract and move, I can tell he's trying to poop but he's clearly constipated.

(sorry the pic's blurry, but you can see how red his bum is)
IMAG0100.jpg


What do you do for a constipated chick? I gave him several drops of water and am about to go borrow an eyedropper to give him more. Right now Domino's really strong and fairly active, not weak or anything, but I can tell he's miserable. What can I give him besides water? If he doesn't poop in the next couple of hours, I'm considering attempting a chick enema before he becomes weak because I know they can die of this pretty fast... not tops on my list of things I want to do, but neither is losing my favorite baby, and I'm willing to try ANYTHING. Help!
 
I had this problem also. Some body told me to use molasses, but it didnt help. How ever i did give the chick a couple drops of mineral oil. And it seemed to help . Your chick also looks like it has a prolapsed rectum. this has also happend to my chick. The swelling will go down as he becomes un constipated , But you may always have the problem of the prolapsed rectum. Anyway this is the info. I got from my uncle who runs a vet clinic here in town. Keep an eye on the lil guy also. you may want to keep him by himself so you can make sure that he is eating and getting plenty of fluids. This will also help so you can see if he is pooping and how many times he has poooped. Anyway i hoped this helps a little . And let me now how he is doing
 
Thank you Alleyoops! I don't have any mineral oil; do you think a drop of vegetable or olive oil would help? (closest town is 40 miles away and I'm nervous about leaving the chick long enough to go buy some.) I mixed up some warm sugar-water and gave him about 1/2cc with a syringe, and coated his bum with some vaseline to protect it. He's pooped a little (YAY) and it looks really sandy and hard. I think he might've gone too wild in the grit tray! I've got him by himself in a box with a waterer here beside me (my gooseneck desk lamp was the only other thing I could think of to use for warmth, lol) and he's still straining and occasionally producing a drop or two. Clearly he's not done yet, but at least there's a little bit of movement. Here's hoping he gets it all out of his system.

Thanks again for passing on your uncle's advice!
 
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By the way, how long did it take the mineral oil to work? I just gave Domino a few drops of olive oil. (He was NOT a fan of that, either! This chick is never going to like me again after today...)
 
I dont think that the olive oil or vegetable oil will hurt him maybe some KY would help to. I will try to get a hold of my Uncle. At this point in time I would be for trying anything. If you can kind of see the poop he is straining to get out try using a diaper wipe or a wet paper towel and kind of wipe it out a little.You dont have to go up inside but just wipe what is already close to coming out and eventually you will get all of it. that way he doesnt have to strain to hard. And you dont want him to because he already has a prolapse , and like i said this happend to mine and he still has a sore butt, and prolapse. If I knew how to post pictures I would show you my little guys back side. Mine is doing a little better it took several days for him to start showing any improvement , and he still has room to make more. The biggest problem was during all his strian to poop his tore his vent a little and know every time he poops it bleeds and creates a scab over his vent so I am constantly having to remove the scab and clean his bottom and put oitment onit to try to avoid an infection. If you were offering grit then I would take it away from him completely and maybe even take it from the other babies as well . Keep a clos eeye on the other to make sure they arent suffering through this as well . It seems to not be common as I have 30 babies hear and only one has this problem. And not to many people could offer me much advise when I asked what to do. I just thank god my uncle is a vet and he could offer this help. It was definetly a good idea to vaseline, and make sure you you dont be stingy in applying it he needs all the lube he can get . Keep me posted on how he is doing and 'I hope I offered some good advice.
 
Houston, WE HAVE POOP! (Words I never thought I'd say...)

Domino finally passed a really good sized poop. He'd been straining about 4 times in a row and nothing coming out, but I could see something white at his vent. I used that really soft tiny earwax spoon (which is never going in my ear again, I promise you that) to scoop it out, and it was like a dam bursting. Poop everywhere. I don't know why that seems to have blocked him--as far as I can tell, the white stuff wasn't even hard. Oh well, I don't care why it worked, so long as it did!

I've been giving him 1/2 cc of sugar water every 30 minutes--don't want to overload his little belly but don't want him dehydrated and weak, either--and was just about to use some of that olive oil in the other end like an enema. I think Domino and I are both grateful it didn't come to that.

I'm going to keep him by himself for a while longer, and feed him soft things--I've got an egg boiling now so he can have the yolk. Since he pooped, he's been pecking at the paper towels a bit so I think he's hungry. THANK YOU AGAIN, Alleyoops!
 
Holy cow! Now Domino's pooping like there's no tomorrow... yes, I know it's gross and I'm sorry but I'm so, so happy. Who knew a chick could hold that much poop??? No wonder he was so miserable! *blows kisses to Alleyoops*
 
Well I am glad that he is better, and that you didnt give him an enema. THat could have been a little dangerous with streching out his his intestines and and that may disable him to poop even when he gets over being constipated. And there is also the risk of totally blowing them apart as well. I think if he coninues to drink and eat on his own I would also hold off on the sugar water as well. And then the next time you go into town get some mineral oil to keep on hand. and if you are worried he might be dehydrated add eltrolytes to his water. You can pick this up at a local feed store. I put this in our babies water as a precaution so they dont get dehydrated. I know that some people dont do it unless they are sick. But it wont hurt them and if any thing it will keep them from getting sick. Now that he is pooping I would worry more about his sore bottom. Keep using Vaseline or an antibiotic ointment or there until its no longer sore so you wont be dealing with an infected butt. Which is really gross. So Anyway condratulations on the poopy. And hope he continues to poop. And the one other helpful thing that I maybe able to offer you that I learned on this forum is if you are giving your babies starter feed then they dont need grit. And that could have been what started the trouble to begin with. Talk to you later. Keep me updated.
 
Luckily Domino's bum didn't tear like your chick's did--that sounds horrible. And it's much less red now and looks like the rectum has gone back inside. I'm still keeping Vaseline on it and watching the others close to make sure they don't start picking on him. You're probably right about the grit--I took it out last night, but now I'm watching the others really closely to make sure they don't get plugged, too. I only gave them grit because they were catching moths that were fluttering around their heat light, but from now on, I think I'm just going to ignore the occasional moth that gets caught!

He pooped twice more in the last 3 or 4 hours, so I let him go back in with the others. He's always been the big boss of the group, so I don't know if the others'll take this opportunity to pick on him. I hope not!
 
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