Help! 3 week old chick with impaction

[Laura F]

My three week old chick is listless, stumbling, and appears to have an impaction in its vent. The back of the abdomen is swollen and firm.

What is the best thing to do for it?

 

[SpottedCrow]

You're gonna have to wash the stuck poop off it's little bum...or he will die.
Take the chick and use a wash cloth and a bit of soap to soften up the poop. Sometimes you might have to clip a bit of the fuzz to get the poop off because it might be really stuck on there. Once you're done make sure you keep the chick warm, because they get chilled easily.

 

[Laura F]

I just gave him a warm bath with a drop of soap. I let him soak with warm water up to his chest so his butt was immersed. I did get a lot of the dried poop off, but as I looked at its vent, I saw that he is really full of poop. Is there anything else I can do? Is there anyway I can mechanically help get the poop out?

 

[justusnak]

A warm "sits bath" is the best thing...I saw someone on here once post the same problem...they used a q tip...and cleaned it off, while gently pulling back around the vent. be very carefull tho, you dont injure the chick.

Good luck,,,keep us posted!

 

[Laura F]

Here's the scoop on the chicken poop. I spent last evening (4 hours) helping this little chick to poop. Warm baths and simple butt rubbing was not going to do the job. He really have a bad impaction, at least the size of a marble. As his vent opened I was able to gently prod the mass with the rubber tipped end of a bobby pin. I had to loosen the mass and break it up a tiny bit at a time. I also used a small syringe (no needle) and squirted water into the vent. After 30 minutes, he'd strain to poop again. As he was straining and his vent opened, I was able to get some more poop out. I repeated this several times, after each time I let him rest until he looked like he wanted to poop again. As I said, this went on from 6:30 pm until 10:30 pm. I quit when he seemed to have very little left in him. I woke up at 4:30 to check on him and saw that he had pooped on his own at least 3-4 times during the night. This morning I gave him some scrambled egg and had to tip his head in the water for him to drink. He started to perk up and at 8:00 am I put him back in with his "brothers and sisters".

These chicks are from a school project. The 1st/2nd grade incubated 40 eggs and 32 hatched. They will go to a family farm this weekend. However, as I looked in the cage this morning I saw there are two more "pasty butt" chicks.

Perhaps my methods are unconventional, but I am an RN and this is all I could think of to do. I was very gentle and patient with the little guy. There was another chick in the same condition except worse (his impaction was almost the size of his head). He died last evening.

I hope no one is upset with my methods. I think I really helped him.

 

[Llysse]

Hooray! I'm glad you were able to save him. If you hadn't been so patient and persevering he surely would have died. As to your methods you did the best you could with what you had. I read something very similar on this board not too long ago in which someone was also able to save a chick that way, although I can't immediately remember the implement she used.

Don't feel bad if what you did worked. The chick felt bad from the pasty butt, and what you were doing was helping to relieve him. You should feel proud and happy. Congratulations!

 

[SpottedCrow]

You did an excellent job with mr poopybutt...
Sorry you lost the other one.

 

[justusnak]

YEAH!! You saved him. Oh I am so glad you was able to get that out....I bet he feels better as well. Whew!! Way to go!!

 

[Laura F]

Thanks everyone. I never thought of a chicken as a pet, but I LOVE all birds so I can see how this pet-thing can happen. We already have a dog, 3 parakeets, 2 Beta fish, a bearded dragon, and 1,000 crickets (to feed the beardie). He was more than a little worried when I told him the 30-or-so remaining chickens needed a bigger cage. His response was "Well they're not coming here!". My husband is quite accustomed to me plopping an orphaned or injured bird or small animal down onto the kitchen table and start my services. He just shakes his head a walks away.

Now I'm back at the school to pick up the other pasty butt chicks and start all over again.

 

[Bill]

Hi Every one

Me and my wife and two sons got 129 new day old we had tem abought 1 week and I started seeing pasting but it wasnt bad. Well the day I noticed it my wife called me at work. So I got off at 7 that evening went home. I went to the chicke broding house I built and cought about 15 of them that was bad. Took them in the house ( mind you that it was arount teh 30 s to 40 s tamp out side. I got me a pan of warm water perfied water ( no clorein ) I was still in my Security Uniform. ( decated is what my wife said ) Anyway I dunked ther bottem in the water and juts kept doing that over and over as the poop softend I would king of penck it off there behinds. But i was real carfull not to penck the skin. I went off the chicks action to tell if I was urting them. Pluss if you have good frealings in your finger tips as long asy you dont get in a hurry it will go just fime. But I spent 2 hrs on the baby chicks. Sence that day we havent lost any more and I am great full. If we take care of our Chicks thay will take care uf us when it is time to geather the eggs for market.

Well I just had to share our first experince with you all. Were proud of our birds and we care for them just like thay are our kids. HAve a good day ecery one

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Thanks
Bill, Chere, Carson , Cameron Woods and The 147 hens