Incomplete yoke sac absorbtion

[Sushi]

Long story short: Chick's shell accidently broken a day or so prior to expected hatch date. The chick is alive and doesn't appear injured. The only visable issue is the yoke sac does not appear to have entirely entered the abdominal cavity. There's still some stringy bits of it hanging out of the navel. I am worried that this is going to get infected. I have wrapped the chick in a clean facecloth soaked in saline solution, after flushing the outside of his body with it. I was careful not to put any water pressure on the navel itself but cleaned the entire area to the best of my ability. Is there normally some stuff left outside or did it not get fully absorbed? Does this make any sense?

 

[kathyinmo]

You do not want to keep it wet. Let it dry. It should dry up and fall off. If it is just a small amount, it should be ok. Good luck!

 

[Sushi]

Update
When the shell broke yesterday, I could see that part of the yoke had not yet been absorbed. I removed the top part of the shell and left the bottom half on. I wrapped the baby in a dampened dish cloth and placed him back in the incubator. The dish cloth was wrapped in a manner to retain moisture, hold him still and keep him in the shell until the yoke absorbtion progressed further. Over the course of the day the yoke finished absorbing into the abdomin. Removed lower half of shell this evening, very very slowly, in stages. I was eventually able to examine the extruding bits from the umbilicus, and I believe that it is just the vessels remaining outside. The shell was trimmed off the cords, leaving only a small piece of shell still attached to the cord, which is still attached to the baby now. For now he is wrapped up in soft dry cloths on a hot water bottle, in a plastic bin placed on a heating pad. The cloths again are to limit his movements so that he does not pull on the remaining cords by crawling around. The cords should dry out over night and if all goes well, I will remove the last bits of shell from them tomorrow and then start to encourage him to move around. I gave him plain distilled water in intervals in the earlier part of this evening using a cotton swab. Wetting just the tip of his beak until the swallow reflex was triggered, I then allowed a drop of water into his beak and waited for him to swallow, 4 - 5 drops at a time every half hour or so. Around 10pm this evening, I added sugar to the water, and continued the same way. Within a half hour or so of first getting the sugar water, he because visably more responsive and appeared to have greater strength.

Now my concern are his feet. In the little bit of crawling around he has done, I've noticed that he doesnt have very good control over his toes. Having been deprived of the natural hatching process, his feet haven't had the exercize to get them going. I am going to check them out further tomorrow, and if he still seems to be having that problem, I am going to see what I can do to strengthen them up a bit. He's made it this far, can't give up on him now.

 

[kathyinmo]

They usually just sleep most of the first couple days. They have the yolk to absorb for nutrition. I wouldn't worry about the legs or feet for 2 or 3 days anyway. Are the toes curled?

 

[CindyG]

Hi, I'm going to jump in here as I have a chick in much the same shape. Except he was shrink wrapped and went a few days just lying in the egg with only a small hole pipped. I helped him out, he was completely gummed up with his wings stuck to his sides, and his legs sort of just flailing. That was yesterday afternoon, I have been giving him a bit of sugar water off the end of a Q-tip every couple of hours and also, with warm water and a Q-Tip kind of swabbing him off. He sure isn't as fluffy as the rest of the chicks, rather bald in places, can see through his skin. He at first had the stuff stuck to his navel that looked like what the other chicks left behind in their shells, then it dried and dropped off. His toes seem floppy and sort of turned under, so am thinking I will have to try the cardboard shoe thing, maybe tomorrow. He is still in the bator, the only one there, as other eggs either hatched or were duds. When I take him out, I warm a washcloth in the microwave and wrap him in it, then work under a high intensity light, only keep him out for 3 or 4 minutes at a time. Temp in bator is around 100, last time I went to get him he was actually standing up, but it's hard work for him. I wonder when I should start trying to give him some actual food, and what should it be? This is the first time I've hatched chicks, and never had them this small before, so hope I can keep him going. And really, I should have been using "her" cause after all this I don't want it to be a rooster!!

 

[Sushi]

Update, baby is up and hopping around. Navel seems to have resolved and toes have straightened out. Phew.