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

[VaporDoc]

Hi everyone,

Little chick is still alive and standing hunched with his little brother/sister chick in the warm inside hutch. I took some video to show how he's breathing. He/she is still throwing backwards as if in fright to maybe dislodge the tongue. There is no gap around the tongue or trachea to get any fluids into the poor wee chickie.

Thanks everyone for responding and suggesting

That kick though at 33 secs.

had me laughing for days lol!!

 

[wyancrazy]

I hope your little chick pulls through! It sounds like you have an awesome vet! Keep us updated.
(Also: Are you also from New Zealand? Your accent sounds like you are! Just asking because i's rare to find another New Zealand BYCer!

Hi Feather Hearts,
Yes I am from Christchurch New Zealand! Where abouts up north are you? Great to 'meet' you on here.

Little chick is quiet but still alive, I'm hopeful but cautious about it. Tomorrow I go and pick up more eggs to incubate in our lounge and hope to get a better fertilized amount. Last time these two chicks we have right now hatched out of 35 eggs where only 4 were fertilized! The roosters were changed out for different ones who actually knew what to do with the hens this time.

Rowena.

 

[wyancrazy]

That kick though at 33 secs.

had me laughing for days lol!!

Oh my goodness I just watched that kick over and over and realised I missed how funny it was. Now I'm laughing too!

 

[lena_]

Hi Feather Hearts,
Yes I am from Christchurch New Zealand! Where abouts up north are you? Great to 'meet' you on here.

Little chick is quiet but still alive, I'm hopeful but cautious about it. Tomorrow I go and pick up more eggs to incubate in our lounge and hope to get a better fertilized amount. Last time these two chicks we have right now hatched out of 35 eggs where only 4 were fertilized! The roosters were changed out for different ones who actually knew what to do with the hens this time.

Rowena.

I'm in Northland, where it has been raining for he past three days...
That is a pretty bad hatch rate! Hopefully you get a few more chicks this time!
I have never seen a chick 'swallow' it's tongue, but on BYC we learn something new everyday!
Here's to hoping for your precious chick to make it! Is the little on eating and drinking?

 

[townchicks]

Rooting for your little chick to make it. You're doing so well with it.

 

[wyancrazy]

I'm in Northland, where it has been raining for he past three days...
That is a pretty bad hatch rate! Hopefully you get a few more chicks this time!
I have never seen a chick 'swallow' it's tongue, but on BYC we learn something new everyday!
Here's to hoping for your precious chick to make it! Is the little on eating and drinking?

Hi Feather,

I hope the chick makes it too, it's a strange colour so would love to see it grow and have a happy run around on my Mum's farm. The chick is not eating or drinking by itself rather we are tubing watered down food about every half hour and letting the chick get plenty of rest in between. The tongue and trachea are well down it's throat still this morning and chickie (we've been calling it Blondie cause it's so white) is still breathing with beak open. We've noticed it will pick up some food but then hold it in it's beak I guess cause it knows it can't swallow it. We have our fingers crossed for it.

The funny thing is the chickie came out of a really tiny egg and we thought it was going to be Bantam or Silkie. The other black chick hatched the same day out of a huge egg is absolutely tiny in comparison and we had to fix it's feet as they were curled and had to dose selenium as it was throwing wee fits, it's been the noisiest demanding chick I've ever seen/heard that barely eats. It's crazy that the bigger 'healthier' chick would be the one that is struggling. The wee black chick is nestling against the white chick like it knows that it's sick it's kinda cute.

Rowena.

 

[wyancrazy]

Rooting for your little chick to make it. You're doing so well with it.

Thanks Townchicks, the little chick has such an awesome personality to it, a real character, loves running around ducking and diving and seeing it dustbathe at a week old I just fell in love with it!

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[wyancrazy]

Update:

I really hope this helps someone in the future with maybe the same or similar issue.
My daughter and I checked the chick that we are calling Blondie and the tongue/trachea are even further down the throat! The video is here..

But the real update of the day is that the poor chick was breathing and gasping for air so bad I thought it was dying so out came the crochet hook again and I got a second pair of hands to hold a light and a third pair to hold the chicken and I had a really good look around the hole that the tongue completely disappeared into.

To do this I used my cell phone on video as there's a really bright light, and the video isn't great but at some point I'll try and upload it to youtube to show you on here.

I was surprised that I was able after a few attempts to fish the tongue and trachea out of the hole and into the area I could see it in a bit better. Then about 3 minutes later as I'm pulling all kinds of gunky mucus away from the throat and tongue area there was (and I can't believe it myself) a loop of white cotton.
Cotton.
A loop of cotton around the tongue somewhere that I hooked the crochet hook and didn't let go for dear life. The third person was my daughter and she ran to get scissors and we all cursed the vet for not seeing the cotton. It was really thin though. We got the cotton free and pulled the tongue up further into the mouth with tweezers and now Blondie is sleeping with beak closed nice and calm not gasping.



I am really really hoping that this is all of it and that Blondie can recover from this.
Thanks again for reading and helping!

Rowena.

 

[pitbullmomma]

Update:

I really hope this helps someone in the future with maybe the same or similar issue.
My daughter and I checked the chick that we are calling Blondie and the tongue/trachea are even further down the throat! The video is here..

But the real update of the day is that the poor chick was breathing and gasping for air so bad I thought it was dying so out came the crochet hook again and I got a second pair of hands to hold a light and a third pair to hold the chicken and I had a really good look around the hole that the tongue completely disappeared into.

To do this I used my cell phone on video as there's a really bright light, and the video isn't great but at some point I'll try and upload it to youtube to show you on here.

I was surprised that I was able after a few attempts to fish the tongue and trachea out of the hole and into the area I could see it in a bit better. Then about 3 minutes later as I'm pulling all kinds of gunky mucus away from the throat and tongue area there was (and I can't believe it myself) a loop of white cotton.
Cotton.
A loop of cotton around the tongue somewhere that I hooked the crochet hook and didn't let go for dear life. The third person was my daughter and she ran to get scissors and we all cursed the vet for not seeing the cotton. It was really thin though. We got the cotton free and pulled the tongue up further into the mouth with tweezers and now Blondie is sleeping with beak closed nice and calm not gasping.

View attachment 1575435

I am really really hoping that this is all of it and that Blondie can recover from this.
Thanks again for reading and helping!

Rowena.

That is really awesome news. Rowena!!! So happy for you and Blondie!

Great job figuring out the problem and fixing it. Really!!!!!