Help please! Chick has something stuck in throat?

[littlesqueaks]

Hi - I hope someone can help me.

We are caring for 3 partridge chicks that escaped from the neighbours cat, mum was attacked and hasn't been seen since, 8 other babies didn't survive. Our 3 were found on our back doorstep.

They are 6 days old.

We have been following advice regarding feeding. Last night they tucked into their dinner of mini mealworms. One of them looks as though he has got a mealworm stuck in it's throat, it may be something else like straw and I may not have noticed it before. It literally looks as though he has a stick sitting poking out of either side of his neck.

I don't have enough experience of birds to know if this could be normal, like an accumulation of grit maybe?

I have tried gently massaging his neck, he doesn't seem in pain. He is picking at food but I don't know if it is going down, he has had a little egg yolk and some baby chick crumbs.

I would be happy to take him to the vet but I don't know if that would be more stressfull and therefore do more harm than good.

Do you think I should risk a trip to the vet? And if so, should I take all three or risk seperating them?

Thank you.

 

[1mommahen]

Maybe an eyedropper of olive oil to help it slide down would help. Good luck.