Baby Chick - Yolk Sac or Intestines? How to Treat?

[Lucaschickens]

This is our first batch. We're still working on best practices to help chicks.

We want to help a baby chick (~2 days old) that was born very small compared to the other 5 and with something attached to its vent (maybe?) area.

This chick is active, but really small. After it hatched, it ran laps around the incubator.

This chick doesn't act sick, but, I'm worried it's a matter of time before it does, given the yolk sac / intestines / prolapsed anus?
I'm not sure what the chick has in the photos below.

Not sure how best to treat or if it'll fix itself.

We've quarantined the chick, given it extra heat with microwaved rice-socks, sugar water and regular water, game bird seed is in quarantine bowl on the floor (chick hasn't touched the food, but has had water), put Vaseline on its yolk sac / intestines / prolapsed anus to minimize infection...but is there anything else we can / should do?

Any recommendations or thoughts are welcome!

 

[coach723]

I honestly cannot tell if that is coming from the vent or the umbilicus. If you can get a shot from the bottom, where we can tell where it's actually located it would help. It appears there may be poop stuck around it? If it's intestine, then the chance of infection is high and it likely won't survive. It could be a prolapse, or could be from the umbilicus being pulled. For now, I would try to keep it clean and moist. If you have any plain triple antibiotic ointment you can use that, or vaseline if you don't. It's at pretty high risk of being pecked at by other chicks, which will just make it worse, so you likely need to separate it to prevent that, chicks will peck at anything. A wire separation in the brooder can do it, so they can still all see each other, making sure that both sides have access to a heat source and room to move away from it when needed. When they are so small it's hard to treat things like this, and sadly, some of them just don't make it.

 

[Lucaschickens]

I honestly cannot tell if that is coming from the vent or the umbilicus. If you can get a shot from the bottom, where we can tell where it's actually located it would help. It appears there may be poop stuck around it? If it's intestine, then the chance of infection is high and it likely won't survive. It could be a prolapse, or could be from the umbilicus being pulled. For now, I would try to keep it clean and moist. If you have any plain triple antibiotic ointment you can use that, or vaseline if you don't. It's at pretty high risk of being pecked at by other chicks, which will just make it worse, so you likely need to separate it to prevent that, chicks will peck at anything. A wire separation in the brooder can do it, so they can still all see each other, making sure that both sides have access to a heat source and room to move away from it when needed. When they are so small it's hard to treat things like this, and sadly, some of them just don't make it.

Attached some more photos. Chick is quarantined and Vaselined. Under heat lamp.

If there’s anything we can do to help this chick, please let us know

 

[coach723]

What breed is the chick, is it a bantam? It seems terribly small.
Also, that it lays like that for pictures doesn't seem like a good sign to me. Is it still active and running around? I honestly cannot tell if that is vent or umbilicus, in some pictures I think probably one and then another picture makes me think the other. I know it may be hard, but I would look to see if you can see the vent above that area or if it's actually the vent. The umbilicus would be below the vent on the belly, and they are so tiny when they hatch it's not that far apart.
From what I can see in the pictures, if it's as lethargic as it looks, it may not make it. You can try giving fluids, some warm sugar water, or raw egg yolk mixed in some warm water, just put one drop at a time on the tip of the beak and see if it will swallow it.

 

[Lucaschickens]

Attached some more photos. Chick is quarantined and Vaselined. Under heat lamp.

If there’s anything we can do to help this chick, please let us know

Tried giving chick yolk. The yolk in the photo isn’t from a yolk sac burst

 

[coach723]

It looks to be deteriorating, sadly. I honestly don't know what else to recommend. I will tag a couple of others to see if they have anything to add. So sorry.
@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive

 

[Lucaschickens]

It’s a baby Coturnix quail.

 

[Lucaschickens]

Not the vent. Black stuff is hard and attached to what are likely intestines. It’s not poop.

The more I research, the more likely this is an intestine with necrosis.

I don’t think it’ll make it.

Thank you all for your help.

 

[coach723]

I think you may be right. I thought I was looking at a chicken chick, so the size was really concerning.
I'm so sorry. It's always very sad to lose the little ones.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about the Quail Chick.

If she were mine, I'd cull. I know that sounds terrible, but I've found if my Quail chicks are not up and moving and keen on eating/drinking at hatch, they fail to thrive.

I understand it's not an easy thing to do.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-for-squeamish-people-slightly-graphic.74734/