Umbilical cord or ....?

[Following Him]

This chick hatched on its own (in an incubator) about 10 hours ago. I Google searched what this might be and read some threads here. Assuming it was an unabsorbed yolk sac, I put it in its shell in a cup. It was very active and didn't want that at all! Wouldn't stay in. (Couldn't use taller cup bc of size of incubator.) So I put it on a moistened paper towel in a jar to confine it and keep other chicks from picking at it. After about 7 hours, I took it out to look at it. It looks like the yolk absorbed, but there is still something there, whether umbilical cord or what--I don't know. I changed the paper towel which was yellowish and slimy, like what comes out of the egg when they hatch. After another couple hours, I took the second picture (about 10 hours after hatch). You can see the paper towel is somewhat red stained. The chick is active and wants to be set free, but I don't know what to do about this. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[nuthatched]

It should dry up and fall off in a few days. You can dab it with betadine.

 

[MuthaCluckas]

It does indeed look like an "umbilical cord"! Removing it yourself could injure, I'd simply wait for it to fall off (shouldn't be more than a couple days)

 

[Following Him]

It does indeed look like an "umbilical cord"! Removing it yourself could injure, I'd simply wait for it to fall off (shouldn't be more than a couple days)

Do I need to keep the chick confined still, or could it walk around? It seems it might step on it and pull it....

 

[MuthaCluckas]

Do I need to keep the chick confined still, or could it walk around? It seems it might step on it and pull it....

If you have some coband, you could put a very thin band around its body just to keep that from happening - if youre seeing it happen already. Unless its being picked on, it should be just fine