Chick has huge gas buildup UNDER his skin, what can i possibly do?

[coopersgirl]

my chick has a huge gas buildup under his skin from his chest righ tup to his head. it is definitely some kind of gas or air buildup. i left for two days and came back and he had bad poopy butt. i think the gas buildup from that somehow caused this. he was raised outside with broodies and is over a month old. i cleaned off his poopy butt yesterday after finding him and he has pooped normally since. his neck is completely full of gas, it is really weird to see i wish i could find my camera. he keeps his neck on his back and hasnt eaten or drank on his own.

my only idea is to gently pop the bubble with a safety pin. what else can i do? we will have to cull him tomorrow if he does not show any improvement and i dont see how the gas would disapear on its own??

i tried antacid, but it did not work. the gas is not IN his intestines, it is UNDER his skin. i am continuing to give him some anti gas but i dont think it will have any effect.

what can i possibly do, i am at my wits end. please someone, please tell me if you have heard of this or what you would do???

it is some kind of air buildup and you can see it, the skin is paper thin around the sides of his ches tnear his neck because of how stretched out it is. you cant see it in his neck but his neck is huge and you can feel the air underneath it b ut u cant see it cuz the skin is thicker. it is so messed up.

 

[Break an Egg]

Is it the crop, where the food normally goes? If it is off to one side on the chest, don't pop it.

 

[coopersgirl]

No it is on BOTh sides of his chest. It is around where the crop is but u can tell it is gas or air. the skin is so tight it feels like its gonna pop. there is nothing IN it. so its not a crop buildup. His whole neck is full of this gas stuff too. he is all puffed up. i am so angry I cannotfind my camera to try to show it. it is super weird looking. i really have no idea what to do. massaging it does nothing at all, the gas has not gone down in 36 hours.

 

[PunkinPeep]

From your description, the only thing i can imagine is that something is blocking passage/rotting in the crop, and maybe something is blocking passage into the esophagus from the mouth. If it were me, i would try doing a flush with ACV or baking soda. These threads i'm linking to talk extensively about sour crop. I think your problem must be somehow related to the crop - just demonstrating abnormally. I hope there is information in these threads that will be useful to you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=378303&p=1
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3097930#p3097930
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=224315&p=2

 

[TyrannosaurusChix]

i had one that literally blew up on the back of his neck and top of head. no other symptoms though, his poop was normal and his head was held normally. i left him alone and it slowly went down. I tried the pin, a syringe, etc. and i couldnt get the air out.


He died about amonth ago in his sleep.

As for your bird, i am not going to even speculate as to what it was because i didnt know. The only conclusive thing i did find is that it couls be a sign of trauma. Since my adult wyandottes were witches with b's and love to snip at them, i figured they got him a good one on the back of the neck/head.

Separate him off and see how he does. If this impedes his normal eating and drinking, i would say its serious.

 

[jessaw1981]

I as well have a chick with this bubble as well as one of my 5 mo. pullets they are both dom. I don't know if its breed related or what. it goes from wing to top of its neck and same place on my pullet.

 

[zazouse]

It sounds like a ruptured air sac

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
What is "dom."? Do you have photos? Not sure if this is the same condition as the OP's bird.

 

[zazouse]

Thought you might want to check this out .

http://www.worldpoultry.net/chickens/breeding/breeders/rising-pressure-from-air-sacculitis-6961.html

 

[TinkleTurkey]

I had a turkey with that problem, the vet said something about an air sac and said I should drain it
so I popped it and squeezed the air out. bubble came back a couple times but I kept draining it.

Eventually went away. Sort of a mystery I suppose, but its been months since that happened and she is alive and well.