New hatchling has intestine hanging out?? And chick with shut eyes?

[lindsayna96]

One of our babies was born (naturally) this morning and had not absorbed any of its yolk. It has survived until now and is standing up and walking around just barely. We had to tie a string around the yolk and cut off a majority of the bloody tissue so it would not step on itself. We've kept it isolated and warm in a sterile environment but after checking it a few minutes ago, right below the tied off area, there is now a clear tubing (intestine?) that is getting bigger and looks like a ring like form that is balooning under the tied off yolk. This poor chick is covered in blood and we're trying to make her as comfortable as possible. Is there anything we can do? We also have a chick who has not opened his eyes at all. He's about 2 days old. Should we manually open them? Or is this normal?

 

[RoxyBird]

I would put the first chick down- that one does not sound normal. It sounds harsh, but it's only hard on the human. It's an act of love for the animal that is likely confused and suffering.

As for the 2 day old with the eyes- have you tried a little wet compress or cleaning gently with a Q-tip? Might just be that the eyelid is a bit weak and sort of glued shut from new baby goo? I wouldn't force them open. Is that one otherwise normal?

 

[lindsayna96]

We're really confused what to do with the first because she's acting like she's getting stronger so we don't want to give up on her but we understand we need to do what's best
And for the second, we tried the wet compress and he opened his eyes! Thank you so much! And yes he was acting normally like the other chicks. It was amazing to see his first reaction to sight. He sat in our hands and immediately stopped chirping and took a look around and calmed down

 

[RoxyBird]

I'm so glad to hear about the second chick! Yay for easy solutions! Too funny about freaking out- that's a lot of new sensory input all at once I guess

How is your other chick? I know, it's hard to tell what to do sometimes. I have a very hard time trying to make the "right" decision when it comes to my own