Help 😢🙏

[BigBlueHen53]

It's hard to tell for sure from the photo. If that's a hernia and part of its intestines are on the outside, the kindest thing to do would be to euthanise it. If it's just a very bloody unabsorbed yolk, its chances still aren't great but I did have a chick hatch earlier this year that looked very similar and it's doing fine now. I tied off the yolk and then cut it off, cleaning and disinfecting everything (chick, tools, my hands, any surfaces) thoroughly both before and after. Probably gave it some antibiotics at the same time. Because it hadn't absorbed most of the yolk I had to do regular feeds for a few days to get it strong enough to be able to start eating on its own.

Thanks, Kat. How would she know the difference?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Kat, I'm going to advise her in a pm. If that's okay.

 

[kattabelly]

It’s not yolk, it’s definitely its intestines . Momma abandoned the eggs and I was gone , when I came home this baby was crying. Thank you .

I'm sorry, it's always sad when they don't even get a chance at a start. Are the other eggs/chicks doing ok?

Thanks, Kat. How would she know the difference?

I'm not claiming to be an expert and I wouldn't want to give incorrect or misleading advice. With my chick, I had a hunch based on the fact it seemed like more of a single round lump than bits of guts, and the fact that it was really narrow at the point where it came out of its body and didn't seem like I could see anything that looked like intestines in that section. Given the chick isn't going to survive if it is a hernia, it probably wouldn't hurt to slightly nick the lump to see if it looks yolky inside. Might slightly increase the risk of infection, but maybe not by much if you were ready to remove the lump immediately if it looked ok to try that.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Would it be helpful to know if this tissue is extruding from the vent (prolapse) or from the umbilicus (hernia)? And in either case, is it survivable? I asked OP in a pm if she would like suggestion on humanely and quickly dispatching the chick and she says she can't do it, she'll need someone to help her. This is so hard, I know, my heart goes out to her.

 

[kattabelly]

Would it be helpful to know if this tissue is extruding from the vent (prolapse) or from the umbilicus (hernia)? And in either case, is it survivable? I asked OP in a pm if she would like suggestion on humanely and quickly dispatching the chick and she says she can't do it, she'll need someone to help her. This is so hard, I know, my heart goes out to her.

I assumed it was from the umbilical - in that photo it looks too low down towards the belly to be from the vent, and the portion on the right does look yolky. If it is a prolapse then hopefully someone else will be able to give advice. If it's a hernia with intestines outside the body then no, sadly I don't think it's survivable.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It's been taken care of, thanks.