Bulge between chick's legs

[centralcaligirl]

Hi everyone, I have two five-week old Austrolorp chicks and I noticed that one of them has a bulge between her legs that the other one doesn't have. She is otherwise completely fine, she runs and eats and forages and is pooping fine. Any idea why she may have this?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi everyone, I have two five-week old Austrolorp chicks and I noticed that one of them has a bulge between her legs that the other one doesn't have. She is otherwise completely fine, she runs and eats and forages and is pooping fine. Any idea why she may have this?

How is your chick doing?
Can you take her to a vet?

How does the bulge feel - it reminds me of a leaking air sac, but it would be hard to know without consulting a vet.

 

[centralcaligirl]

She is exactly the same. She doesn't even seem to notice the bulge and is acting normal, eating and pooping and running around the yard, but it isn't getting smaller and she waddles when she runs. It's very soft and squishy. I could definitely see it being an air sack. I'm going to try to get her into see the vet tomorrow.

 

[centralcaligirl]

I took her to the vet. She has a hernia.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I took her to the vet. She has a hernia.

I'm glad you were able to take her to the vet. Very interesting that it's a hernia. Did they give you any course of treatment or is this a leave it be and wait to see what happens situation?

 

[centralcaligirl]

The vet said that the bulge is actually her gizzard which is protruding through the rupture in her abdominal wall. So the options are surgery or euthanasia, because once she starts laying eggs they will put more pressure on the rupture and cause further interval damage. The surgery would be to open her up and put the gizzard back into the cavity and then stich the rupture closed and she should be fine. Which would be okay except that most vets are apparently not trained to do that procedure on chickens, just dogs and cats and other household pets. So she would have to go to the university hospital for the surgery

This is my 10-year old daughter's chicken and she was really upset, so we came home and were talking about the different options as we aren't wealthy and I'm sure the surgery would be expensive although we don't exactly know yet what the cost would be.

My daughter had been planning to have a birthday party at the end of this month with her friends. She said she was going to cancel her birthday party so we would have the money for her chicken to have the surgery.

So please say a prayer that we get some good news tomorrow that the surgery isn't outrageously expensive because now all my daughter wants for her birthday is for her chicken, Peep, to survive.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The vet said that the bulge is actually her gizzard which is protruding through the rupture in her abdominal wall. So the options are surgery or euthanasia, because once she starts laying eggs they will put more pressure on the rupture and cause further interval damage. The surgery would be to open her up and put the gizzard back into the cavity and then stich the rupture closed and she should be fine. Which would be okay except that most vets are apparently not trained to do that procedure on chickens, just dogs and cats and other household pets. So she would have to go to the university hospital for the surgery

This is my 10-year old daughter's chicken and she was really upset, so we came home and were talking about the different options as we aren't wealthy and I'm sure the surgery would be expensive although we don't exactly know yet what the cost would be.

My daughter had been planning to have a birthday party at the end of this month with her friends. She said she was going to cancel her birthday party so we would have the money for her chicken to have the surgery.

So please say a prayer that we get some good news tomorrow that the surgery isn't outrageously expensive because now all my daughter wants for her birthday is for her chicken, Peep, to survive.

I do hope you receive some good news. That is so sweet your daughter is giving up her party so she can help her chicken.
Please keep us posted.

 

[centralcaligirl]

After a lot of consultation and another conversation with the vet, it was agreed to wait and see what happens. The vet said that she isn't in any pain, and since she is eating and developing normally and has all of the normal chicken behaviors, we are going to just monitor her and see what happens over the next few months. Apparently this is fairly rare in pullets so they don't really know exactly what to expect as she grows. One thing that is nice is that now we have a relationship with a veterinarian who really likes working with chickens. I had no idea that would be so hard to find.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

After a lot of consultation and another conversation with the vet, it was agreed to wait and see what happens. The vet said that she isn't in any pain, and since she is eating and developing normally and has all of the normal chicken behaviors, we are going to just monitor her and see what happens over the next few months. Apparently this is fairly rare in pullets so they don't really know exactly what to expect as she grows. One thing that is nice is that now we have a relationship with a veterinarian who really likes working with chickens. I had no idea that would be so hard to find.

A lot of vets don't treat chickens, so I'm glad that you were able to form a relationship with this one and have someone that will monitor her.

I find your situation interesting, so if you can keep the thread updated periodically with new photos and if you see any changes that would be most helpful. I don't believe I have encountered a chicken with a hernia before, so I would like to see how she gets along.

I do wish you well. I bet your daughter is happy her chick doesn't have to go through surgery right now.

 

[warrior momma]

I have a question and I feel silly but I can't figure out how to post a question so I do apologize for hijacking this thread but I am in need of serious help. I have a chick who is 3 days old a lady gave it to me to try to help and he has 2 slipped tendons. Both legs and it is awful because he just flaps around and hobbles.I know I need to wrap it but when I tried I couldn't get the tendon to stay in place. I could not be doing it right. I don't know how to and I am so scared I will not be able to help him and he will not make it.