Constipated chick

[AgroUrica]

Saw one looking "sad" this morning and found his backside swollen and hard. All the fuzz in the surrounding area was matted and dried. This bird is only a few days old. I've cleaned up his rear and softened the stool plug at the vent some, but don't know if he'll make it.

Any suggestions?

 

[Chambertin]

Did the chunk come off?
Toxins build up quick in a small body, do what you can to get the hole clear and have fresh water ready to drink. Many say live (as in still active vinegar colonies) Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in the drinking water really helps too.

If you have to dunk the butt in warm water than I say do it.
Any risk of temp loss is overun by the fact that if you cant poop you are guarenteed to die.

These days I get some really tiny scissors and snip off some fluff if any of them show signs of poop buildup after 4 days.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Try running warm water over baby's butt while stroking the vent with a q-tip. Make sure the water temperature isn't hot, but warm...hopefully this will help stimulate baby to go poop.

I hope this helps! Also, consider adding some ACV to the water, the kind "with the mother". Most times this stops "pasty butt" from happening.

 

[TOP KNOT]

Get some sugar water in him to give energy. Then Get some yogurt with live cultures mix with warm water and some crumbles and make a hot cereal. Also hard boil an egg and crumble the yolk and feed that too.This will get their gut working. This is what I do and it works excellently! I had one that I missed and it had a pasty butt about 10 hrs longer than the others. Oops!! He got this way and I did these things and he is just fine now! Eats like a pig and runs around!! Good luck!

 

[AgroUrica]

Did the chunk come off?
Toxins build up quick in a small body, do what you can to get the hole clear and have fresh water ready to drink. Many say live (as in still active vinegar colonies) Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in the drinking water really helps too.

If you have to dunk the butt in warm water than I say do it.
Any risk of temp loss is overun by the fact that if you cant poop you are guarenteed to die.

These days I get some really tiny scissors and snip off some fluff if any of them show signs of poop buildup after 4 days.

Thanks for the suggestions. This little guy is actually plugged up inside the vent....that's to say, this wasn't a problem of his fuzz getting matted and blocking the vent. With a q-tip dipped in hydrogen peroxide I cleaned up the vent (which is red, swollen, and hard) and managed to loosen the stool some that's stuck inside. Problem is I don't know how deep the plug goes and I'm hesitant to go digging around down in there for fear of an internal injury.

I can see him trying to pass the plug but so far, no luck. I thought a warm water compress might help too and still have that on the list.

 

[wayne hulgan]

give the little guy some sand. Our chicks are 2 weeks old and we gave them sand, (from the creek), the day we brought them home. They need some grit to help digest their food. I get the sand from the creek that runs next to our house. DO NOT USE PLAY SAND FROM THE BUILDING SUPPLY STORES. Even comerical chicky grit will work, just sift out the larger pieces. We had pasty butt one time, never since we started giving them sand early.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Did you try to gently squeeze the vent, to try to push the poop plug out? Kinda like when you're trying to get medicine out of a tube like neosporin...squeeze and pull, you know what I mean? Don't do it hard, just feel where to poop is and squeeze down towards the vent opening. If the poop won't come out, baby will most certainly die...so I'd try everything I could to help.

 

[AgroUrica]

Did you try to gently squeeze the vent, to try to push the poop plug out? Kinda like when you're trying to get medicine out of a tube like neosporin...squeeze and pull, you know what I mean? Don't do it hard, just feel where to poop is and squeeze down towards the vent opening. If the poop won't come out, baby will most certainly die...so I'd try everything I could to help.

He's in an incubator right now resting but I'm about to take him out and check out his rear again. I was tempted to try squeezing the vent at first but decided I'd try the softening route instead. He'll definitely die if his plumbing isn't unplugged so my next try will be gently squeeze the vent in the hopes of further softening the plug.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Chambertin]

Just a crazy idea, have anything that you can draw up liquid with?
Old ear washer (feeling old now), syringe, whatever?

Maybe like when a baby just gets stuck in delivery you can try a little suction, only in this case you have to go inside to lock on to the blockage and pull.
Could be just the thing, and in this case a hail mary might be worth it.

 

[AgroUrica]

Just a crazy idea, have anything that you can draw up liquid with?
Old ear washer (feeling old now), syringe, whatever?

Maybe like when a baby just gets stuck in delivery you can try a little suction, only in this case you have to go inside to lock on to the blockage and pull.
Could be just the thing, and in this case a hail mary might be worth it.

Indeed I do, a plastic syringe. And actually, I"m going to try to flush the vent first with warm water....sort of an enema approach.