Chick has a big gooey hole. Please advise!!!

[chickensducks&agoose]

We just hatched out a baby Mottled Java, and upon a bit of careful handling, noticed that the side of it's abdomen has no feathers, and looks a bit swollen, damp and veiny. then we noticed that the part where the leg should connect to the belly (leg pit?) it just doesn't. it looks like you could just stick your entire finger up there (I didn't)... will it heal shut on it's own? or what?

 

[tinydancer87]

Wow, I have never seen one like that before! Is the chick ok otherwise? Is it moving around? It might be ok, but then again you might have to bandage it or something to keep food and bedding from getting in there. Hopefully someone else chimes in with suggestions.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

It seems just as fine as everyone else. It hatched last night, so I'm still kind of hopeful that it will somehow resolve it's self... crossing our fingers. it seems tired, but not more so than the rest of it's hatchmates... Haven't fed them yet, waiting until tomorrow I think, since the nest they are in isn't super conducive to careful feeding and watering. Making them all move to a new location tomorrow morning, and hoping that the last egg hatches.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

This morning, Holden isn't looking so good. He is kind of hunched over, and the leg on the hole side, looks small and weak. Anybody ever seen this before?

 

[exop]

As long as the chick isn't with a bunch of others who are super-pecky, you may be surprised at how well a gash will heal on its own. Bandaging a chick does not seem to work well - there's never really a good way to attach a bandage, and the chick will go nuts trying to get rid of it. Plus they're so small and delicate that stitches aren't really appropriate.

The wound should dry up / crust over fairly quickly. You may want to apply some betadyne / iodine with a cotton swab or tiny paintbrush, and adding tetracycline (oxytetracycline) to the drinking water is a good idea to stop it getting infected while the gash heals.

To make a little chick dose up on tetracycline I've found it helpful to take a pop bottle cap full of water, mix in enough oxytetracycline powder to make a fairly noticable yellow color (about a pinch of powder) ... pick up the chick and the bottle cap, gently dunk its beak in the medicine and then let it raise its head and swallow it down... repeat a couple times. Do this a couple times a day for 3 - 5 days. (Make a fresh bottle cap of medicine each day.) The alternative is to medicate all the chicks' drinking water,

Best - exop

 

[exop]

chickensducks&agoose :

This morning, Holden isn't looking so good. He is kind of hunched over, and the leg on the hole side, looks small and weak. Anybody ever seen this before?

Totally medicate him. If the only problem is a tear in the skin, it's amazing how well they can recover,

I had a day old chick earlier this year the skin of whose bottom I tore (oww!) while trying to pull off a dried poop that had stuck below the vent - it had a half-inch tear in the skin of its belly and I was sure it was a goner. But the gash scabbed over, the chick grew up and it is now scampering around outside. I've also seen chicks pull through from unhealed and infected navels, with medication.

Best of luck!!​

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

this doesn't seem to be a wound, more of a place where the skin didn't join together like it was supposed to.... It's not bloody, it just seems kind of mucous -like, like the inside of someone, instead of the outside...

 

[exop]

Yikes.

I still think antibiotics would be a help for healing... though I dont know what would cause your chick's problem in the first place.

I have seen an adult hen regenerate skin successfully over large areas of exposed, skinless flesh (possum attack)... it took her a few weeks but she did it. It may not look promising now, but your chick may be able to grow new skin there. Is it showing any signs of crusting over? The longer it's open to the air the more likely it will get infected.

You also want to make sure the chick starts eating and drinking asap to keep its strength and fluids up.

So sorry about the situation!!