No rib cage?

[dusky]

This is going to be a weird one.. but when my problem chick hatched (the one that had straddle legs, curled feet, wry neck), I thought I could see his HEART beating just barely under his paper thin skin. I thought nothing of it later as I worked on getting him fixed up with chick shoes and hobbles. He runs around just fine now, though a bit runty compared to the other chicks that hatched at the same time, but I've been feeling under his body and that same heart fluttering is still just underneath the skin. This is crazy, isn't the heart supposed to be tucked deep inside the ribs?? I'm afraid to examine him any closer, and he doesn't have feathers covering this area under his body, so when he sits on my arm I can definitely feel it. Has anyone heard of this happening? Is the heart just close to the surface or is some other anatomy missing to cover it? I feel a bit sick to my stomach about it, what if the other chicks/chickens ever pecked him there? I'm almost wondering if he needs some kind of shield ala Iron Man to protect it..



Here's Godot.. !

 

[Buffygirl]

can you feel a ribcage?

 

[janinepeters]

Could you actually see the heart, or just its pulse under the skin? All sorts of skeletal defects are possible in animals, so it is possible that this chick has no rib cage, or perhaps just no sternum. If so, its chest contents will obviously be more vulnerable to trauma than those within a normal chest skeleton.

 

[dusky]

When he was first hatched, I was pretty sure I saw the heart.. He couldn't right himself over so he was lying on his back. It also looked like his stomach might've been unclosed, it looked a little yolky around the sternum. I left him in the incubator for the rest of the day, then when I saw it crusting over I brought him out. I'm trying to feel under him (he doesn't like it too much, or ends up stepping onto my hand), and the difference between him and other chicks is that the other chicks feel very solid on both sides of the breast bone (I'm assuming that's the sternum, and breast tissue covers it, though since they're so young it just feels more boney than padded right now), where as for him I immediately feel the heart fluttering rapidly just under the skin with nothing over it. :| I can feel bones around his chest area otherwise but I'm a little uncertain still what exactly I'm feeling. Maybe I can take a profile picture of him.. I thought he carried himself more upright than the others which makes him appear 'leggy' but now I'm wondering if it's because he's missing parts of his underside skeleton.

 

[Buffygirl]

This seems like a serious birth defect. I worry about the little chickie because if the other chicks see the odd movement in it's chest they might peck at it. That would not end good. Maybe if you decided to have a house chicken.....?? Or, as sad as it seems, culling might be a humane option. If she's eating and drinking properly... time will tell you what you need to do.

So sorry you are going through this.

 

[dusky]

Yeah, I worry about it also. They would have to peer underneath him to see. Right now it's a bare patch of skin, which I thought was unusual enough.. I wouldn't mind a house chicken, though others might lol. I'll have to see how other people deal with keeping one in the house. He's a pretty healthy normal chick for now.

 

[janinepeters]

I'm more of a mammal person, but I think in a bird, the bone analogous to the sternum is called the keel. Sounds like this one has some serious deformities, as you mention some additional problems in your first post. I agree with Buffy that putting it down might be more humane -- In fact, that is what I personally would do. This one is bound to be the object of bullying if allowed to live with other chickens. But obviously you will have to do whatever you feel comfortable doing.