Natanya
Songster
- Aug 2, 2017
- 60
- 55
- 107
Backstory
I ordered five silkie chicks from Cackle Hatchery, they were hatched and shipped 8/2, and six arrived on 8/4. The day the chicks arrived I checked all of their vents and two needed cleaned. I found one had a badly prolapsed vent, and the other had what looked like a more mildly prolapsed vent or some form of hemorrhoid.
The one with the mild prolapse I'm no too worried about, it's pooping normally, its vent region is staying more or less clean, and the other chicks aren't paying it's rear any mind.
I'm really worried about the heavily prolapsed chick, who I've dubbed "Broken Butt" for the time being.
The first day I disinfected the area around the birds' vents with Betadine and applied some topical aspirin which did wonders to reduce their swelling. The vent of the lesser prolapsed chick looked indistinguishable from the vents of the other chicks, and Broken Butt's vent only looked slightly swollen, as opposed to having a bulging prolapse.
I've since read that aspirin isn't a wise treatment for vent prolapse as it's a blood thinner and can worsen bleeding, so I stopped applying aspirin and instead switched to witch hazel and Preparation H.
I tried reinserting the prolapsed tissue as advised by every prolapse treatment I've read or watched, using an appropriately sized paintbrush handle lubricated with copious amounts of Prep H, using the technique demonstrated in this video:
Unfortunately, unlike the calm hen in the video I was following, my tiny bird was distressed by the whole engagement and was feeling chilled, and every peep after I removed the paintbrush handle caused the tissue to slip right back out, and repeated attempts to get the tissue to stay in made no progress and only aggravated the tissue, leaving the area more swollen. This was late at night, and tired and emotionally drained by my failed attempts to fix the chick's broken butt, I went ahead and fed the chick a size-appropriate dose of aspirin to hopefully alleviate the pain he was obviously feeling after all the manipulation of his prolapse, and headed to bed.
This morning the bird's butt was covered in dried poop again and the vent looking as angry and swollen as ever. I cleaned the poop, disinfected with Betadine, dabbed the area with witch hazel, and liberally applied Prep H to the region, using the ointment to hold back his butt feathers away from his vent so his poop would stop being caught in them.
Questions
1) Should I try aspirin again, since it's the only thing I've found to have a positive effect?
2) Can baby birds leave their phallus extruded? Am I mistaking the "lesser prolapsed" bird's boy parts for a prolapse?
3) At what point can I know the chick is a lost cause, and it's time to cull him?
Comments
We ordered five Sebrights as well, and Cackle sent six. Unfortunately one had something gravely wrong with it, and after several tube feedings it condition had only worsened and it had lost weight, so I culled it through beheading.
If I have to cull the silkie with the broken butt I will, but I'd like some input from people with more experience before killing a bird that's still active and eating and drinking normally. Seems a waste.
He's also adorable and just as curious and personable as the other chicks, and he seems to have fabulous plumage. At this point in their development I doubt I could tell much about what their adult plumage, but he has the best foot feathering and the best formed top knot. I'm conflicted, because even if this chick survives I'm not going to want to breed a bird with a possibly congenitally deformed cloaca, and he can't live without the risk of prolapse reoccurring. This prolapse early in life will especially be an issue if this bird, which I'm pretty sure is male judging by what I'm seeing slipping out his vent, turns out to be a hen. She couldn't ever safely lay, I'd have to put her down.
Whatever happens I'm going to enjoy my time with my healthy chicks, I just wish I didn't happen to have this ill chick to fret over.
Thank you in advance for reading and any comments.
I ordered five silkie chicks from Cackle Hatchery, they were hatched and shipped 8/2, and six arrived on 8/4. The day the chicks arrived I checked all of their vents and two needed cleaned. I found one had a badly prolapsed vent, and the other had what looked like a more mildly prolapsed vent or some form of hemorrhoid.
The one with the mild prolapse I'm no too worried about, it's pooping normally, its vent region is staying more or less clean, and the other chicks aren't paying it's rear any mind.
I'm really worried about the heavily prolapsed chick, who I've dubbed "Broken Butt" for the time being.
The first day I disinfected the area around the birds' vents with Betadine and applied some topical aspirin which did wonders to reduce their swelling. The vent of the lesser prolapsed chick looked indistinguishable from the vents of the other chicks, and Broken Butt's vent only looked slightly swollen, as opposed to having a bulging prolapse.
I've since read that aspirin isn't a wise treatment for vent prolapse as it's a blood thinner and can worsen bleeding, so I stopped applying aspirin and instead switched to witch hazel and Preparation H.
I tried reinserting the prolapsed tissue as advised by every prolapse treatment I've read or watched, using an appropriately sized paintbrush handle lubricated with copious amounts of Prep H, using the technique demonstrated in this video:
Unfortunately, unlike the calm hen in the video I was following, my tiny bird was distressed by the whole engagement and was feeling chilled, and every peep after I removed the paintbrush handle caused the tissue to slip right back out, and repeated attempts to get the tissue to stay in made no progress and only aggravated the tissue, leaving the area more swollen. This was late at night, and tired and emotionally drained by my failed attempts to fix the chick's broken butt, I went ahead and fed the chick a size-appropriate dose of aspirin to hopefully alleviate the pain he was obviously feeling after all the manipulation of his prolapse, and headed to bed.
This morning the bird's butt was covered in dried poop again and the vent looking as angry and swollen as ever. I cleaned the poop, disinfected with Betadine, dabbed the area with witch hazel, and liberally applied Prep H to the region, using the ointment to hold back his butt feathers away from his vent so his poop would stop being caught in them.
Questions
1) Should I try aspirin again, since it's the only thing I've found to have a positive effect?
2) Can baby birds leave their phallus extruded? Am I mistaking the "lesser prolapsed" bird's boy parts for a prolapse?
3) At what point can I know the chick is a lost cause, and it's time to cull him?
Comments
We ordered five Sebrights as well, and Cackle sent six. Unfortunately one had something gravely wrong with it, and after several tube feedings it condition had only worsened and it had lost weight, so I culled it through beheading.
If I have to cull the silkie with the broken butt I will, but I'd like some input from people with more experience before killing a bird that's still active and eating and drinking normally. Seems a waste.
He's also adorable and just as curious and personable as the other chicks, and he seems to have fabulous plumage. At this point in their development I doubt I could tell much about what their adult plumage, but he has the best foot feathering and the best formed top knot. I'm conflicted, because even if this chick survives I'm not going to want to breed a bird with a possibly congenitally deformed cloaca, and he can't live without the risk of prolapse reoccurring. This prolapse early in life will especially be an issue if this bird, which I'm pretty sure is male judging by what I'm seeing slipping out his vent, turns out to be a hen. She couldn't ever safely lay, I'd have to put her down.
Whatever happens I'm going to enjoy my time with my healthy chicks, I just wish I didn't happen to have this ill chick to fret over.
Thank you in advance for reading and any comments.
