I think I must be crazy for thinking I can save a particular chick... it is a few days old now, and its belly is getting distended because it cannot poop.
I have cleaned its bum of pasties every chance I get... it's smelly, and upon closer inspection it appears that the vent opening is about the size of a pin-head. Like the straight pins you find in new shirts. It is so tiny that the poor dear can't pass anything without pushing so hard she pops an artery. My first thought is to put her out of her misery, but part of me wonders if I might be able to perform some sort of episiotomy (sp?) or something to help enlarge the opening. Has anyone tried it before? I will probably lose her if I don't do anything, so I figured it was worth asking.

