poorly chick

[niknchicks]

Hi from England! I'm a lab technician in a school and I've hatched chicks for a class of year 11s for the first time and I need help.
we have 8 chicks (which will all be coming home with me when they grow up) and they're all healthy except one- she seems to have Omphalitis- it looks like an abscess on her belly which is now drying up and getting smaller. She's eating and drinking well and it doesn't seem to bother her and she seems to be fighting the infection great- she's a tough chick!
I've dealt with abscesses on other animals before and they've healed up wonderfully and I wondered if I could feed her some higher protein foods to help her fight the infection? it's what I've done for dogs in the past and it really helped.
what do people think?
I've rescued and healed other animals before but I'm a bit lost with chicks :/
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[aart]

Can you post a pic?
Is it the umbilicus that was swollen and now receding?
Are you medicating her?
How old is she?

It may not be an infection, but just a slow to absorb yolk sac.

 

[niknchicks]

she's exactly a week old. It was weeping and gooey but it's dried up today. It's also smaller. she had a bald patch that I was keeping an eye on and then all of a sudden on friday it started weeping. it doesn't seem to be bothering her and she's eating, drinking and pooing ok. she's pretty lively. I separated her from the others but I don't know what to give her

 

[chooks4life]

Raw garlic's a natural antibiotic, antibacterial, antiseptic, antiviral, antimicrobial, etc etc etc... Has over 30 natural antibiotics in it and when you freshly crush or cut it, Allicin develops from the enzyme interaction, and this is so potent it can kill bacteria that the most powerful man made antibiotics can't. Garlic's also high in sulfur and this speeds healing and also helps by being antiparasitic. As another benefit, garlic prevents, and cures, coccidiosis.

There's a lot of natural herbs and spices with proven medical benefits you can feed them.

Best wishes with her/him.

 

[niknchicks]

thanks i'll try it. fingers crossed!

 

[aart]

So that goop in the pic is the 'weeping' pus? Wow!
Can you see the source of the weeping?

I suppose just keep it clean......you could use a topical triple antibiotic (nothing with -caine, that would be toxic).
Garlic can't hurt, if feeding anything other than chick feed they should have grit available.

Good Luck!

 

[niknchicks]

thanks for the advice guys i'm amazed she's still alive to be honest but she's doing pretty well now. she's a cheeky little thing- keeps coming and pushing herself into my hand for some fuss! I gave her some boiled egg finely chopped last night and she's put weight on overnight so that's good, right?

 

[niknchicks]

a couple of the science teachers here have suggested that I give my chickie some of the penicillin powder that I have in stock in my lab but i'm really reluctant in case it's too strong for her. what do you think?

 

[aart]

I think that if she hasn't seem to be ill, that meds are not necessary.
But it might not be a bad idea to have some on hand...I'd be very careful about what you use...
......do some research and be sure of chemical names and dosages before administrating.

 

[niknchicks]

thanks. i'll just keep it in case. she seems to be getting a bit better