Chick belly button = sick chick? Update, she died

[chantald]

I got an order of 11 chicks from Ideal on Thursday of this week. They all seemed healthy. I inspected each and do daily for pasty butt.. no sign of that, but a few have this crusty belly button I've never noticed on other chicks before.. One that has the most prominent of these, an EE female, is now ill. She is lethargic, panting and droopy. I've isolated her, added abx to her water and electrolytes. Other than a wait and see if she pulls through, not sure what else to do.

All the chicks are on medicated starter.

So.. what is this crusty thing, is it an indication that I'll have more sick chicks..??? If so, is it contagious.. ?I've got the others from this order with my 5 from an earlier order (they are about 3 weeks older) in a corner of my coop.. caged off from the rest of the flock..

Update:

She died..

 

[silkiechicken]

The thing is a belly button. All chicks have them. They lose th em in a few days and if you buy chicks from like the feed store, often they are old enough to have lost their little stubs. So it's not contagious. But perhaps that chick is suffering from shipping stress, and so if it's not thriving as well as the others, it may grow slower and thus develop slower and not lose its button so quickly?

Medicated feed is for cocci, so that is all it helps with.

As long as they are warm and have food and water, I think that's all you can really do when they are this young. Best of luck.

 

[cheeps]

I had one like that, I guess it's just like most other baby animals, the stump of the cord is still there. My puppy had an umbilical infection that almost killed her. It could have gotten infected.

I'm really sorry about your chick.

 

[swtangel321]

awww, so sorry for your loss !!!!!