Chick with swollen bottom??

[breezeflock]

Hello! I'm new here and reasonably new to the chick world of hatching babies! A week ago I had a poor hatch in my incubator and only 1 out of 6 Lavender Araucanas hatched, one died during hatch and one died after incubator lockdown. the other three died at an earlier stage. The little one that made it seemed very stressed when she (im being hopeful) was stomping around the incubator, I removed her after 12 hours as she was fully dry and got her in her brooder box and under the heater. Because she was on her own I got three 4 day old chicks to join her from a reputable chicken breeder, after a small amount of eye pecking everyone settled down and carried on. the Little araucana seemed to then develop Pasty Butt so I did as I have done with previous chicks. Cleaned her ever so gently removed the stuck poo dried her well and applied some vaseline. On and off over the last 5 days we have done this and her poop has hardened (it was very soft before) but now she seems to have what looks like a really swollen bottom, im not sure if its where shes lost her down due to the cleaning (I was as gentle as could be but despite this shes still now very bald) her bottom looks more bulbous then before. shes happily eating and drinking and shes ever so friendly , she jumps up into your hand and will quite happily drift off to sleep whilst having her bottom cleaned. Theres been no sign of any blood in her poop and the other three chicks are all thriving,
Does anyone have any suggestions, I will try and upload some pictures but in the mean time im open to suggestions. Shes now 9 days old, with previous pasty butt chicks this has usually cleared up by now ....have I done something wrong? Thank you

 

[azygous]

I am going to have to assume you mean "swollen vent" when you refer to her "bottom". It's helpful to use proper terms.

A vent can become swollen after repeated cleanings, no matter how gentle you are. Try a small dab of hydrocortisone cream on it a few times a day until the swelling goes away.

 

[Sonya9]

Could she have a bunch of poop stuck inside? Or is she going normally? You might want to let them peck around on some natural soil. I have noticed pasty butt and diarrhea only seems to happen to brooder raised chicks, not the ones that run around outside with a mama hen and eat all the crap on the ground (despite the fact they are never on medicated feed).

Guessing it is the microbes in the soil, the variety of junk they eat, and possibly not being under a heat lamp.

 

[breezeflock]

I am going to have to assume you mean "swollen vent" when you refer to her "bottom". It's helpful to use proper terms.

A vent can become swollen after repeated cleanings, no matter how gentle you are. Try a small dab of hydrocortisone cream on it a few times a day until the swelling goes away.

It doesn't really seem to be her vent really just her rear end under her vent?

 

[breezeflock]

Could she have a bunch of poop stuck inside? Or is she going normally? You might want to let them peck around on some natural soil. I have noticed pasty butt and diarrhea only seems to happen to brooder raised chicks, not the ones that run around outside with a mama hen and eat all the crap on the ground (despite the fact they are never on medicated feed).

Guessing it is the microbes in the soil, the variety of junk they eat, and possibly not being under a heat lamp.

That's a really good point. I'll certainly put them out in a run as it's so warm at the moment. She seems to be pooping ok, it just never falls to the floor. It just falls onto her larger rear end and sticks there. Then gets baked on under the heater plate it seems. It's the right temperature and all the other chicks seem very happy.

 

[azygous]

How old is this chick right now? How is she behaving? Does she run around and play with the others? Or does she stand alone with her eyes half closed?

Would you say this swelling is becoming worse?

Swelling of the lower abdominal area like that causes poop to stick to the butt instead of falling away like it should. The swelling also discourages butt feathers from growing in that area.

I can't tell you she has an infection, but it looks like one.

 

[LaFleche]

From whar you described I would think she might be constipated which often happens when the brooder temperature is too high.

Follow the advice given in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/swollen-vent-with-blood.1393031/#post-22862815

She might even be suffering from omphalitis: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/silkie-chick-with-a-big-round-belly-her-poop-gets-all-stuck-on-it-bc-she-can’t-clear-it-any-suggestions.1403552/post-23041776

And the fact that all of the other Lavender Araucana eggs died at different stages of incubation makes me wonder if the parent stock might have already had an underlying issue like salmonella infection or MG.

 

[breezeflock]

How old is this chick right now? How is she behaving? Does she run around and play with the others? Or does she stand alone with her eyes half closed?

Would you say this swelling is becoming worse?

Swelling of the lower abdominal area like that causes poop to stick to the butt instead of falling away like it should. The swelling also discourages butt feathers from growing in that area.

I can't tell you she has an infection, but it looks like one.

I can't decide whether it looks worse because it's actually more swollen or whether it looks worse because she's lost her down and the raw naked rear end just looks worse. She's completely normal, eating and drinking, cleaning herself. Playing with the other chicks and jumping up onto the top of the heater plate, she is the tiniest but rules the whole brooder, treading on all the bigger chicks

 

[azygous]

Behavior says more than a physical detail. Hopefully, the feathers will cover her bald butt eventually. Try not to worry.