newly hatched chick with prolapse problem

[Joycats]

I've been hatching and raising chickens for several years but I've never encountered this problem. I have one Delaware chick that hatched today with what looked like a hernia on it's bottom. A few hours later, the chick had a sac that had come out of that "hernia" spot. Now the sac has deflated but is still out and it surely looks like something that should be on the inside. It is dragging it around the incubator and smearing blood on the other eggs that haven't hatched yet. I've experienced a hen with prolapse only once and this seems similar to that. Does anyone know what this is and what I can do about it? Thanks in advance for your help.
Joy in cold, snowy South Carolina

 

[steelersfan43]

You might want to post this under the emergencies/diseases category. I hope its nothing serious. Are you sure its not something from where he is still absorbing the yolk sac??

 

[Joycats]

No, it's not the yolk sac. This "sac" wasn't there when he first hatched, it appeared a couple of hours later. I've never seen anything like this before. I'll post in the Emergency section, thanks for the advice.

 

[Joycats]

Is it possible that the yolk sac is absorbed while in the egg and then discharged after hatching? It seems to be shrinking, and now I'm wondering if it's possible for it to just be the yolk sac. I've had chicks with unabsorbed yolk sacs when hatched before but nothing like this. And it wasn't there when he hatched, I picked the chick up and held it. It appeared a while later.

 

[steelersfan43]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure. I will look in my chicken health handbook and see if I can find anything out for you.

 

[Joycats]

Thanks a bunch! I've looked through my books and can't find anything. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happen tomorrow. I'm not real good with "waiting".

 

[steelersfan43]

I've even been looking online trying to see if I could find something, and haven't seen much on prolapse other than in egg layers. I hope that everything will be fine when you get up. Sorry I couldn't help more. Good luck. Maybe, if you post on the other thread, add pictures so you can get more responses. Maybe someone will have seen this before. Hope it works out!

 

[Joycats]

I did receive some good responses in the incubating eggs section but for some reason the topic has been closed and I cannot respond to them. I don't believe it was the yolk sac, I believe it was the intestines protruding for some reason. The chick was near death this morning. Thanks to everyone who tried to help. I do appreciate your time.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sorry to be graphic, but does it look like this?

If so, he tore himself open hatching. I pushed what I could back in and covered it with a band aid. I never expected him to make it. A couple days later he was still alive, but had some fluid buildup around the wound. Again, I didn't expect him to make it. He's now 14 weeks old - he's still a runt and is behind in development. He's having a tough time integrating in my flock though.

 

[Joycats]

That may be it. That is very similar to what he looked like when he first hatched. Then a few hours later he had a large sac (about the size of a bantam egg) protruding. I believe he tore the sac and that's when I started to see bright red blood and the sac deflated. I wish I had gotten pictures but I didn't and he died this morning. It was very sad. My first instinct was to put the sac back but I wasn't sure as I've never seen anything like this before. I just didn't think it could be the yolk sac because it wasn't there when he left the egg. The second chick that hatched did have a small part of the yolk sac to absorb but he seems to be doing okay. I wonder what would cause this to happen and if certain breeds are prone to the problem? Thanks for sharing your picture, good luck with your little guy. I hope he will finally catch up and be able to join your flock.