Help with a 5 week old chick prolapse?

[Judy]

I wouldn't use a baby wipe; might contain something irritating. Clean the prolapse if it needs it, with plain water or water with a bit of a mild soap are fine, and use the Prep H. You don't have to put her IN a bath if it is stressing her; use a cotton ball or something of the sort. The reason for Corid rather than Sulmet is that Corid is much easier on their system. If the poo is normal I would not give either just yet. (Corid is amprolium, same as in medicated chick feed, but a higher dose of it.)

She needs to be kept quiet. Is she separated? Sometimes putting a friend in with her helps. A rather dark place can also help, to help her rest.

Just trying to tide you over. Threehorses will be back when she can.

 

[kittyacid]

Bump.

 

[insiderart]

I wonder if this is mushy chick disease or avian omphalitis.

 

[threehorses]

I wouldn't bathe her as, I've found, sometimes bathing chills can cause that to be an issue. I'd use the babywipes instead - good call. YOu can put a dot of olive oil on any dried poop - let it sit there til it soaks in well, go back to clean that part off later.

And mushy chick disease and omphalitis are the belly button - not the vent... but now I wonder - this IS the vent we're talking about right?

And... what ddawn said.

 

[insiderart]

Oh sorry I thought we were talking about the navel.

 

[kittyacid]

Well....the good news is that the vent looks normal and things seem to be staying in place. The bad news is that there was the dried poop on the end of the prolapse that got left on the last time I pushed everything in place. I couldn't get it off and was worried about hurting her worse if I scraped at it, and I had been gone for 12 hours and was afraid that the tissue would "die" if it stayed out too long. Chickens have turned
me into an obsessive mess - now I am going to be paranoid that the little chick develops an infection from the dry poop that got pushed in.......

I did learn a little trick to keep her from struggling and pushing stuff back out. I would pick her up and push the prolapsed part in and hold it as I sat her back down into the brooder, hold it for just a second longer and quickly let go and back away. I think that made her less panicky.

Thank you for all of your help - I really don't know what I would do without this forum and all the great people!!

 

[kittyacid]

Oh my gosh - I have SO much to learn! I actually thought this was a joke:

I wonder if this is mushy chick disease or avian omphalitis.

Mushy chick?? Omphalitis?? In my mind this was a derivative of Oompa-loompa-itis.
Then threehorses said the belly button - I didn't know that chicks HAD belly buttons!!! So I thought she was playing along until I googled the diseases and OMG, they are REAL!!!

I'm sorry insiderart, I feel like such a dummy, but the laugh at myself feels better than all the worrying I have done about my chick!

And yes, this was all about the vent.

 

[insiderart]

So sorry kitty, when I read this I thought you meant the belly button area had prolapsed. Just didn't pay close enough attention.

It does sound funny, like maybe it should indicate chicks that turn purple or something.

 

[threehorses]

Hahah Sorry about that! No, we wouldn't tease you like that.

Mushy chick syndrome and omphalitis are two at-hatch issues where the egg yolk that usually is inside the chick at hatch doesn't quite get there on time. So in mushy chick syndrome, the navel area (and yes they do have a sort of cord) is mushy because it didn't completely seal yet. And omphalitis that area gets infected.

Sometimes the yolks are still outside when chicks are born! In those cases, you have to just let them have peace (and keep them separately) and let that stuff soak in. Omphalitis has its own treatments.

Just some very paraphrased info there.

Ohhh the "umbilical cord"... there's actually a cord there that goes to the blood supply outside of the baby chick in the shell. When they hatch, that cord (which has blood running through it) starts to 'dry up' and turn clean. If all goes well, it's clean and almost dry right before they kick the last of their shell off. If it isn't (if people help the chick out without watching the vessels particularly that one) the chick can wick out blood and become very weak or die.

But it's fascinating to see that little cord and the beautiful little network of blood vessels inside the shell. Really hatching is a miracle!