Chick hunched up & lethargic with a lump in it's lower abdomen

[Cowgirl71]

I have this 17 day old Barred Rock chick from Ideal Poultry that has been standing hunched up and lethargic for the past few days. I looked it over when I first noticed it and I couldn't see anything wrong with it. The vent was clean, and nothing else was obviously wrong. So I thought maybe it would snap out of it. It hasn't. But it isn't acting any worse today either. Today I looked it over more thoroughly and discovered a lump in it's abdomen, below and slightly to the left of the vent. None of the other chicks have this lump. The lump is quite hard, and about the size and shape of a nickel. You can't see any kind of a lump, but you can feel it. I looked through my Storey's Chicken book and couldn't find anything about this. What could it be?

Thanks for any help!

 

[TeamChaos]

Has it pooped? Still drinking water? Could it be constipated/ impacted?

 

[MommaOrp]

i agree, is it eating and drinking?

 

[Cowgirl71]

I haven't seen it eat or drink. But it's not skinny and doesn't look super dehydrated. I'm sure though that it's eating and drinking a lot less than the others (the chicks used to be all uniformly sized, now this one is the runt).

If it's constipated, would I try and force some kind of oil down it's throat?

 

[TeamChaos]

I wouldn't force oil under you're not sure it's able to drink and eat. Try dipping it's beak in a little water and see if it drinks, if it does then offer some food- maybe yogurt.