Puffy/Inflated chest/breast/belly

[Marsticket]

Ever lance a blister on your foot? Same thing. The skin is lifted as it is "ballooning." Unless you stab down like a murder-thriller it will be completely fine.

She sounds like she needs needle decompression now. I even used an 18g on my bird. I had the same anxiety when I did it but realized how easy it was after. It is literally just the tip, just enough to break the skin to pull out the air.

Hey hey! Yes I believe it could happen to chicks but seems to typically result from blunt force trauma (falls for a chickadee) and piercing wounds.

In Henry's case, the crush bite could definitely cause sac rupture but if you say it was a sucking chest wound that is more collapsed lung area (Although, if I understand correctly chicken lungs do not work on negative pressure like ours do)-which is definitely plausible with a coyote bite. However, I know nothing of treating chicken lung trauma as I do not know the anatomy.

On Mohawk, she was a younger pullet and her air sac was ruptured by a penetrating claw, smash and drag or subsequent drop if too heavy for the hawk. I have a hard time remembering, but the lacerations I recall most were to the wing itself which leads me to believe blunt trauma.

With an air sac rupture, the air just goes wherever it can go. Usually up which is why subcutaneous emphysema is seen in the crop and neck areas first looking "puffed out." Subcutaneous means "situated or applied under the skin." Muscles, organs, vessels, etc. cannot move, stretch (without damage) or be compressed whereas the skin organ is much more pliable and can stretch to a certain point; when that point is reached, if the leak continues it creates airway and organ compression where it gets serious.

Hope this helps some!

So.. we have now 'deflated' her twice with minimal air blowing her up now. I have put her back in with her buddies and trying to keep them quiet (hard with 4 week old hey!)
I was very worried as she jumped at one stage and cause some blood but this stopped quickly and she seems happy breathing is still a little husky but she is bright and chirpy so I am hoping she is ok now

It has been a terrible day here! After dealing with this little one I went down to check 3 hens who were due to have chicks hatch today.. yep 3 hatched but 2 hens sharing the clutch kicked 2 out, 1 has been severely attacked by ants and appears to have a very raw bottom.. I am trying to save it but hopes are not high.. the other had only just hatched and still wet so flew it up into the incubator and appears to be getting stronger and is happy, the 3rd was being pecked rather viciously by a previous hatch about 7 weeks old so I removed it and now it is in a brooder learning to be a chicken..3 eggs left under a hen to hatch and 12 in the incubator... 5 pipped so please cross your fingers and toes for me for a healthy hatch!!!
Thank you everyone for your help today, I really like this forum and how willing to help and learn everybody appears to be.
XanderWiFi, thank you thank you for all of your help, information and suggestions. I feel like I need you on speed dial!

 

[DaviJones]

I'm glad she's doing well! I'm sorry for the other problems though, it's always something

 

[XanderWiFi]

Sounds like you did a great job! Glad to hear she is doing better. That husky breathing could have something to do with the air sac damage. Mine made this kind of trilling snore whenever its respiration increased. We thought it was cute at the time but figured it was air sac damage after it stopped doing it after some time.

 

[Marsticket]

Just thought I would give an update on my little Sussex chicky.
She seems totally fine now, has a tiny little amount of 'puffy-ness' but her breathing is completely back to normal and is happy. Thank you again for all of your help!!!!!

 

[DaviJones]

I'm so happy for you!

 

[Marsticket]

I'm so happy for you!

Oh DaviJones you have no idea who ecstatic I am that she is OK!
You know how you just seem to get attached to 1 chick in particular? well this is it! She was the only hatch from 48 eggs and has been very special and spoilt since!

 

[DaviJones]

Aww, that's really sweet, she is special

 

[drlaurel]

I just wanted to renew this post and share what was just a really rough 5 days to help someone else through this issue. I knew nothing of sour crop/impacted crop before I finally had one, i think it was the shavings for the baby chicks that started it all, and I learned a mountain from you guys.

My situation was a bit different b/c I had two sick at the same time, about 4 weeks old, and I thought surely it was bacterial. They are my first incubator babies and silkie/golden comet crosses. So i started them on egg yolk dripped into the mouth and antibiotic/electrolyte water. By day three morning they were hiding in corners and basically dying, so i began force feeding them b/c they were checking out. I was pushing egg yolk mush, probiotics, electrolytes every two hours. By some miracle they survived. One returned to normal within three days. The other went south and by day 4 i realized when i picked him up, he had a super inflated chest. Feet were also cold in these birds so i put on the ceramic lamp heater and they stayed under even though its 80 here.

Got on BYC, did some reading and started my process. Since he hadn't really been eating for 5 days by now, i did start on electrolyte yogurt water for calories, even though most say fast. Stopped the antibiotics obviously, in retrospect, this may have been exacerbating his demise. I started by vomitting him, against all the advice not to, just b/c of the sheer volume of his crop and b/c i thought i was losing him anyway, he was really floppy and weak. I knew he couldn't go much longer with no calories. It took a while and really all i got was 3 ccs the two times he did it. It wasn't as gross as they say. It took a lot of time and i found that if i gave a cc of bicarbonate water just before and massaged, that's when i had the two successes. I gave up after i saw i was only going to get tiny amounts. He didn't deflate. No aspiration b/c i kept putting him upside down after he finished. Also a little probiotic water dripped on beak to help him swallow afterwards.

I started garlic water, electrolytes, acv, yogurt and miconazole 2% cream 1/4cc all mixed together and gave him four 3ccs daily. Massaging the crop frequently during the day and after injection. I did this by opening the beak and dripping into the bottom and letting him swallow on his own b/c of the dangers of aspiration. I can't tell you how many wild baby birds we've hand fed and lost to aspiration. You must be extremely careful. I even turn upside down a bit to give liquidy things and tilt the beak to horizontal to administer. By that night he was more animated, despite no food that day, and fighting me a bit more. That night before bed i did a bicarbonate yogurt mix.

Next morning, remarkably better, still swollen but half the size and still a bit lethargic, but started pecking that day. I let him eat the chick food with the others. Two days of this treatment and his crop is back to normal. He's running and eating, but still weaker than usual. He started bullying his favorite minority, my baby sultan, so I guess he's on the mend. I believe I will give one more dose every night of the bicarb, yogurt and a smidge of miconazole 2% (i used 1/4 cc) and continue to massage his crop for a few days just to be safe.

BTw, under normal circumstances babies cannot go long without eating before you need to begin administering. Be it egg yolk drips on the beak, sugar water cautiously b/c of pasty butt, or pushing mush down. When very small they need food every two hours. Sugar water sometimes saves those crashing fast but i don't use it unless they are plummeting. Don't wait an entire day of not eating before acting on any bird. In this instance, i feel the force feeding combined with antibiotic, may have exacerbated what was an impacted crop from shavings. But the other chicken responded well to it. So take them case by case. I have spent many a night waking up to feed a dying baby every 2 hours, usually wild birds, so nutrition is important. But our fasting day with just electrolytes and yogurt water seemed to help, combined with all the other treatments. And he didn't die even after 5 days of majorly reduced calories.

Hope that this helps someone on their journey and if anyone wants any advice no matter how late at night, i'm here. For reference, I'm a doctor and have had chickens 8 years and raised countless orphaned wild animals, mostly birds, since childhood.