3 week old silkie chick smaller than the rest (and not looking good)

[Break an Egg]

I have a brooder with an EE, a BR and 5 blue silkie chicks. One is half the size of the other silkies and is constantly chirping.

It also has a protruding rectum that cannot stay in. I've pushed it in again and again, but I think is has something to do with the fact that it doesn't have much of a backside. When I push on the vent I can feel the end of it's backbone sticking out on the very top of the vent. It also seems to be blocked up because it can't seem to poo, just excrete white liquid that is coating it's backside. It also looks swollen.

Does anyone have any advice? I don't want to have to put it down, but it looks like I have no other option.

 

[Break an Egg]

has anyone dealt with this before??

 

[tiki244]

No I havent dealt with this. I think you should put it in a separate cage and I think it may need some medicine, but I dont know what. Sorry You might want to check the links above and see what those symptoms indicates. You could also try feeding it an egg ands some olive oil. Maybe some grit.


eta: the butt thingy goes in after a while, I did have a Serama that way for two months and he was very small too, but he didnt chirp all the time. He is healthy now and crows all the time.

 

[cyanne]

I had a little OEGB that had a similar problem. I separated her from the others with just a couple of friends to keep her company (I picked out some that were especially quiet). I kept the area clean by washing a few times a day with a gentle soap.

Also, I gave her some mineral oil to help move things along because it seemed like she was having trouble poo-ing. And I gave her a drop of Poly-visol baby vitamins 2 or 3 times a day.

I also used some preparation H (original, not the kind with pain reliever) on the area to reduce the swelling and inflammation.

She healed up just fine and is now all grown up and healthy.

 

[Lanissa86]

Wow Maria, Sorry I can't help, but I hope the little one makes a full recovery! When did you get them? Has it been like this since Day 1 or just happened?

 

[Break an Egg]

It had a poopy butt the day after I brought it home, then I washed it and noticed some redness, and it just kept escalating from there. For some reason, I don't think it can poop. It's not growing either.

I got them on the 30th of last month and Moore's ordered them for me.

 

[tiki244]

How are the feathers? Is it fluffing them out and acting dumpy kinda?

 

[Break an Egg]

It's really just standing there alert, but doesn't walk around much. Just chirps. I will try to take a pic and post it.

 

[dlhunicorn]

just a guess but it might be pullorum... (even though this article states that it has been virtually eleminated in commercial flocks it is still a regular problem with hobby breeders and backyard flocks)
http://compepid.tuskegee.edu/syllabi/pathobiology/pathology/avianmed/chapter2.html
(excerpt)
2.1.1 Pullorum Disease.
Synonyms
Bacillary White Diarrhea, BWD

Definition
Primarily an acute disease of chicks during first month of lives, characterized by high mortality. It is often found in mature fowl as a chronic infection.

Etiology
Salmonella pullorum, isolated by Rettger in 1900, he described this disease as a "Fatal septicemia of young chicks". This bacteria is a long slender Gram-negative rod. Resistant to cold. sunlight, drying and disinfectants. The cells occur singly, nonmotile, non-liquefying, non-sporogenic and faculatively anaerobic. Does not ferment maltose and dulcitol.

Susceptibility
Chickens and turkeys are most susceptible. However, natural infections have been reported in pheasants, ducks, sparrows, guinea fowl, quail, canaries and pigeons. Among mammals, rabbits appear to be readily susceptible, and infection has been reported as occurring in hogs, foxes, mink and man.

Occurrence
World wide distribution. Pullorum is virtually eradicated in poultry in the U.S. since National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) was organized in 1940 for the purpose of controlling pullorum disease.

Epizootiology.
1. The most important source of infection is the infective egg laid by carrier hen.
2. Mode of dissemination of pullorum disease is described below:
a. Infected hen
b. Infected egg laid by infected hen.
c. Incubator containing infected egg.
d. Chick box in which infected chicks may be present.
e. Brooder.
f. Surviving infected pullet which may be a carrier.
Symptoms:
1. Incubation period of 5 - 7 days.
2. Age: usually under 3 weeks of age.
3. Action: Peracute type, no detectable symptom, die suddenly; Acute in baby chicks, chronic in mature fowls.
4. Mortality: If chicks are hatched from infective eggs, dead and sick chicks may be observed in the hatchery.
Those infected after hatching, mortality reach a peak at 7 - 10 days. Mortality as high as 30 - 40% has been recorded.
5. White diarrhea in a small percent of birds. (Septicemia). Dehydration, vent smear with fecal material.
6. Loss of appetite.
7. Squeaky chirp. Appear cold (fever).
8. Difficult breathing (pneumonia).
9. Swelling of joints - arthritis, more common in hens (chronic).
Post-Mortem Lesions.
1. Peracute type - no lesion.
2. Subacute type
a. Enlarged and congested liver. The normal yellow color may be streaked with hemorrhage.
b. Necrotic foci may be present in the cardiac muscle, liver, lungs, ceca, large intestine and muscles of the gizzard.
c. Unabsorbed yolk sac. (During the first few days of life, the yolk sac serves as source of nutrient.)
d. Cheesy core in ceca.
e. Pericarditis and epicarditis
f. Pneumonia - firm grayish nodules.
g. Liver is the most constant seat of gross lesions and followed in order by the lungs, heart, gizzard and ceca.
3. Chronic Form - Adult fowl
a. Oval and shrunken misshaped, greenish or leaden-colored egg yolk. The yolk is firm as if it has been cooked
b. There may be enlargement of heart. Small, grayish firm nodules may also be noted.
c. Salpingitis, atrophied testicles
d. Arthritis
4. Histopathology:
Infiltration of R.E. and mononuclear cells replacing necrotic parenchymatous cells.

Diagnosis:
1. Go by history, age, symptom
2. Laboratory diagnosis:
a. Definitive diagnosis: Isolation and identification of Salmonella pullorum bacteria.
b.Tissue samples from liver, spleen, heart, and yolk sac are good source for bacterial culture in septiemic cases.
c. In the case of chronic infection or carrier, serological tests are required.

 

[tiki244]

I didn't know that, I thought that the guy who tested my birds had said that there wasn't a case in Wisconsin for decades.