Chick has choked on something and tongue has slipped down the throat...

[wyancrazy]

This wee chick is 18 days old and eating and drinking fine up until today when it pecked at something then ran backwards as if to dislodge something from it's beak. Coughed or sneezed a few times and I think gave itself quite a fright. Afterwards and hours later the chick is breathing with beak open and clearly raspy breathing. The tongue on inspection is down the throat somewhat and we have tried to pull it back up with tweezers but it slides down on it's own again. We are letting the chick rest and stay warm but I have fears that the chick will not make it as we can't help it get water down if the tongue and trachea are lodged down the throat. Has anybody seen this before? I have looked around the forum and couldn't find anything the same so thought I'd try asking here. Thanks for looking, Rowena.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Welcome to BYC! Could you please post some pictures of the inside of the mouth. If possible, I think that it could be useful to see what the tongue does. Just upload the video on YouTube or Vimeo and then put the link here

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[wyancrazy]

Get your popcorn ready folks!! Hopefully this will interest someone and maybe save the chick at the same time ?!?

Rowena

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Get your popcorn ready folks!! Hopefully this will interest someone and maybe save the chick at the same time ?!?

Rowena

That is crazy! This is not normal at all

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Since @granny hatchet and @Farmer Connie are awake, lets call them first

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Now @azygous @casportpony @Eggcessive are asleep so lets call them and have them see this tomorrow

 

[Granny Hatchet]

I think a still picture with a flashlight would help a lot better but It sure sounds like it aspirated some water when it was drinking and why it would be acting better now. They carry their tongue pretty far back but I cant honestly see it.

 

[casportpony]

I'm on the old iPad and can't watch videos on it. A friend of mine had a young peahen get a piece of string get tangled around the base of it's tounge then swallowed the string which caused the tounge to get lodged down it's throat.

Can you try pulling the tongue up to see if there is anything wrapped around the base or stuck to it?

 

[Wishing4Wings]

You will have to have someone help you look, but could there be a hair around the tongue pulling it down the throat? I can't think of any thing else.

It is possible that the chick never had a normal tongue, and has just finally run into a problem that brought it to your attention.