PLEASE HELP chick hatched with growth on back of head! Pictures included

[winstin815]

On 7/1/13, one of my chicks hatched with a growth on the back of its head/neck. I left the chick in the incubator and then placed it in its own chick nursery to get strong before introducing him to the other chicks. I thought that the other chicks may peck at the growth or possible kill him, but this morning I found the chick still alive and well. The chick is able to eat, drink and move around without difficulty, even with the growth. My questions are: what is this growth? Will it kill the chick? Should I do anything g or just let the chick be? Please reply with help and suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[sumi]

I have seen something similar once with a piglet that was born on our farm. It had the sac on the front of it's head. I had a vet come round and he told me the bones in the piglet's skull did not fuse properly and some "brain fluid" leaked out. Sorry, I can't be more specific, I was so upset at the time, I didn't take much in. He said the piglet could survive like that, but it was risky, so we had it euthanised instead.

 

[winstin815]

Update- The chicks growth just burst, and it was filled with a clear fluid. The chick seems fine. There is an extra flap of skin hanging from the back of its neck. I moved the chick into its own chick nursery so that the other chicks did not pick on him. I saw another chick grab the extra skin, so I thought that this was the best idea. I hope he makes it.

 

[caitanni]

I researched this earlier, and it isn't the first time it has happened. But it was the largest tumor looking thing I seen on a chick. Hope he/she does well....

 

[winstin815]

Doing well! I divided my chick area with a screen and the chicks that were pecking at him are now separated. He is doing well with the other 6 chicks.

 

[StephieSky]

My guess ( purely guessing ) would be an air bubble. This happens when an air sac is damaged prior, during or right after hatch. Getting hatched is pretty tough and takes a lot of straining for such a little chicky The air escapes the damaged air sac and raises the skin in a bubble where it remains trapped until it disipates.
If you've ever gone scuba diving this makes perfect sense.

Just keeping the other chicks from picking at it until the problem resolves itself is usually the best thing to do. Not sure in a case where it "pops"and you notice fluid but that might have been an internal response to the air pocket.
You might want to watch the chick for signs of respiratory distress and keep the litter as dust free as possible. Maybe cover it with paper towels?

I read the outcome for very young chicks with ruptured air sacs is normally pretty dang good! They seem to have some healing mojo in the air sacs themselves that older birds just don't.

Here's how the inside of your chicky works:
( I had to look this up myself to help me understand the respiratory structure so I make better choices for my hens

The lungs are relatively small and do not expand. Instead, they are firmly attached to ribs. Birds have an incomplete diaphragm and the arrangements of the chest musculature and the sternum do not lend themselves to expansion in the same way that the chest of mammals does.
Consequently they can’t inflate and deflate lungs in the same way as mammals do. Instead, birds pass air through the lungs by means of air sacs, a uniquely avian anatomical feature. The air sacs are balloon-like structures at the ‘ends’ of the airway system. In the chicken there are nine such sacs: an unpaired one in the cervical region; two interclavicular air sacs, two abdominal air sacs, two anterior thoracic air sacs and two posterior thoracic air sacs
The air sacs act as ‘bellow’s to suck air in and blow it out and also to hold part of the total volume. The air sacs fill a large proportion of the chest and abdominal cavity of birds, and also connect to the air spaces in the bones.

 

[winstin815]

He is still doing alright. There is a little bit of drainage from his ruptured growth, but nothing that concerned me. He is still acting like a normal chick. I seperated the chicks that were picking on him. When he was separated alone be would not stop chirping. Seeing that the chicks are currently residing in my office, I had to figure out a new plan.

 

[caitanni]

He is still doing alright. There is a little bit of drainage from his ruptured growth, but nothing that concerned me. He is still acting like a normal chick. I seperated the chicks that were picking on him. When he was separated alone be would not stop chirping. Seeing that the chicks are currently residing in my office, I had to figure out a new plan.

I am following this so I know what to expect if this ever happens. Glad you chick is doing good!!!

 

[winstin815]

Still alive and well! All chicks are reunited too!

 

[Angelray]

Did this chick survive?