1 wk old chick has anus in wrong place!

[AnnaCastle]

Now a week old, we noticed one of our new chicks has its anus in the wrong place. It's actually ABOVE the tail feathers instead of under them! Is this some sort of birth defect? Will this chick live, or should we put it down? So far all chicks seem to be eating/drinking/pooing fine. We saw this one has poo stuck to its butt ("pasty butt?"), and when we cleaned it off, saw the deformity.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your chick. Can you post a good picture of the chick's vent? Keep her vent clean, and she may do okay. Here is another similar thread with pictures from 3 years ago:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/822161/baby-chick-with-her-bum-in-the-wrong-place

 

[AnnaCastle]

Hi, thanks for responding so quickly. Here is a pic. It's not too far off from where it should be, and it definitely works because we saw the chick poop from it.
I clicked and read that whole thread, thanks. We were pretty surprised to find this, but if it's happened to someone else maybe not so shocking. We're gonna see how the chick does. This batch is food chickens.

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be interesting to know if she has any other deformities inside when you end up butchering. In humans usually those types of deformities may happen simultaneously during development. The OP of the other thread may respond to you if you PM them, since they have not posted about the chicken in a couple of years.

 

[AnnaCastle]

I've been cleaning it every few days as it gets caked up again. Today I noticed it's behind below the butt is quite swollen compared to the healthy chicks, possibly with poo that it's unable to void, poor thing, so we may have to cull it sooner than later. As of now though, it's still active and eating. I don't know what changes are going on with the guts inside as it grows.