4 dayold chick prolapsed vent??

[WVweaver]

I have a four day old chick that is having problems with it's vent. It was fine until this morning. The vent and area around it protrudes. It is not bleeding and other chicks are fine and not picking at the chick. It squats to poop and cries. It is still drinking but not eating too much. Does anybody know what is wrong and what I should do?

 

[twoscrambled]

Hi- i'm new to this but i've heard that you can use hemmoroid cream . can it poop at all? if not you're gonna have to help it somehow.. i think i heard something about adding molasses to its water...not sure, maybe you could ask someone about that...just wish i had more experience.. sorry

 

[WVweaver]

I have been putting Prep-H on its vent and have tried to help it poop by pushing on its belly underneath the vent. I am afraid to do too much because I don't know what I am doing and don't want to hurt it. I have suger in the water but have not tried molasses. Thanks for trying to help. Kathy

 

[WVweaver]

UPDATE on baby chick...after 2 hours or so of chick laboring to poop, I checked it again. It's vent was hard as a rock and something hard and white was sticking out a little. When I felt it, it was hard. I oiled the inside of the vent with mineral oil and the next time she bore down I pulled on the item. We did that twice before it finally came out. I don't know what it was or how it got there. It looked like a piece of white chalk the size of a large pea. behind it was green powdery clumps. The chick looked as if she was going to die from exhaustion and probably pain. I put more PrepH on its vent and left her with the others. It slept for two hours without eating or drinking but seemed perkier. I don't know if it will live or not.
Does anyone have any idea what that chalky thing could have been?

 

[PeepinChicken]

OH dear I don't know what to say !?!?!? Just keep us posted, it sounds like you may have helped the poor peep pass some poo. Maybe she ate something form where ever you picked her/him up from ? I would be inclined to keep her vent moistened with Vaseline.

 

[WVweaver]

I will try that. She still cries when she tries to poop now. She has been passing small amounts of "almost" normal poo. It is still too dry. I hope her cries do not mean there is more of that hard matter coming through.

 

[gg706]

I have personal experience with this. I had 2 chicks...both rumpless Araucanas. I got them as day olds. I had been watching my chicks for pasty butt...so that was NOT it. They would try and try to poop...with no success. After awhile their anus's did not look right, they protruded. One had a large hard lump just inside the anus. I ran his back end under warm water and massaged the lump until it broke up and passed.... It did not solve the problem! I watched them suffer to poop relentlessly for 2 days......I got some good advice to put them out of their misery as they would not get better just suffer a horrible death. So I culled them to stop their suffering. My advice is the same...sorry.

 

[gg706]

Does her butt look pretty much swollen shut?

 

[ange92040]

I know when my son was constipated his Dr recommended a little mineral oil I don't know if that would help but a little drop might help make it softer to pass

Good luck

 

[WVweaver]

Thank you all for the advice. I didn't read the posts until this morning. Chillin', I had planned on culling her if she was still straining later last night. I know there are times when that is the only compassionate thing to do. I don't know what kind of chicken she is. She was a "free exotic rare breed" that came with my peep order. She is black with a yellow spot on her head and shorter in length than my other peeps (Austrolorps, Orpingtons, RI reds) She is pretty much the same size everywhere else.
Anyway, about three o'clock this morning she started moving about, eating and drinking and pooping without crying. Now at 10:30 am, you would never know anything had ever been wrong with her. She is eating alot and drinking alot and pooping alot and very active. Her vent is back to it's normal size. Yippee!! I just hope there is no repeats of the constipation. I am still baffled at what that piece of white chalk stuff was.
The hatcheries don"t feed them before shipping, do they? Could it have been calcium?