Weird Hatch Mishap

[Midna03]

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well!

I wanted to discuss something that happened during hatch time on my first time incubating eggs this October/November. I was a nervous wreck and constant clucker the entire time!!! Lol

Our hatch just finished up at 17/20 viable eggs making it through to hatch and survive. We had 18 eggs that were full term in lockdown, but one of them had seemingly passed during lockdown and never pipped internally or externally. One of our hatched RIR chicks has slipped tendons in both legs which we are attempting to mend, but aside that, everyone else is quite well.

Now that I've described an otherwise normal hatch, I want to get into what in the wild world happened to the very last chick that I had to personally rescue during an otherwise normal hatch. The chick had been pipped internally, then externally for about 24 hours and I was watching him breathe and make licking motions. All fine and dandy until he still hadn't made any attempt to escape from his egg for several more hours than he should have on day 22 of incubation where everyone else was fine and already out and about.

So I very carefully set about extracting him as slowly and safely and warmly as I can and I found something... incredibly strange going on with his neck. I totally forgot to take pictures but I have literally never seen anything like this in all my doomscrolling of potential issues with hatches while trying to prepare myself for my first incubation. He was perfectly fine to come out, no external yolk sack, except for what I'm wanting to discuss.

What might have be wrong, you ask? Well...

Somehow, in some sick twist of luck, this poor chick, while his blood vessels were receding, got a particularly thick vessel hung on the back of his neck, just before the big muscle. It had pulled his head forward enough to open up the egg, but to rear his head back to zip, he would pull on the vessel's attachments to his navel.

I don't even know how to describe it, because I was horrified it was like, his intestine? Somehow? Wrapped around his the back of his neck? Effectively, the vessel was a loop with two points of attachment to the navel and caught just on the back of his neck. If he tried to lift his head, it would pull and I was fearful he would end up disemboweling himself before I could attempt to fix him.

I did end up getting him cut loose after tying both ends incredibly tight with floss and managing to get tiny stainless steel medical scissors under it at the back of his neck while I had him gently but awkwardly squished down to not hurt himself by pulling it.

My only worry at this point is it getting infected, but both sides of the vessel receded, the floss fell off, and his navel seems to have scabbed over. I've cleaned the incubator out and put a fresh shelf liner in for him to move around on with his last two buddies before we move them to the brooder too. He seems tired, obviously, but he has gotten up and around to walk, so I'm not as distraught as I was when he first got cut loose. He also did not enjoy me trying to pick him up to inspect his navel, fair enough little guy, fair enough.

So, my question to you all is this: have you even remotely heard of this happening before? Do we figure he will make it? Like I would've never even thought that something like this could even happen. I feel bad for not catching it sooner, but also how could I have caught it without having to assist him first? I don't think I could have, honestly.

Attached a pic of the chick in question in the little container I put him in to rest and the goofy RIR chick with his funky leg brace wraps.

Anyway!!! Let me know what yall think. This is like, the second time I've posted on this site and it's a doozy for a second post. Lol

 

[Debbie292d]

That is incredible! Great save!

I have hatched over 500 silkie chicks this year, and never saw anything even close to that. It's totally amazing it lived! If that's a rooster, I hope you can keep it as that chick is a miracle!

 

[Midna03]

Not sure how well my current rooster would receive him when it comes time to integrate!
He will definitely be kept regardless of gender if the others can behave semi-nicely aside typical pecking order squabbles.

He seems to be doing quite well this morning, walking like a pro and chirping up a storm. Here is a pic of his navel, albeit not a great one since his down is mostly in the way. I think it looks pretty good considering what happened, but what do y'all think? I don't think it looks infected, the surrounding skin is a normal pinkish color, at least to me anyway.

Should I keep him separated from the brooder box for a while until it gets smaller and less noticeable? He has two RIR buddies with him in the incubator including the slip-tendon chick (who is walking great without vetwrap after last night with no more slipping, YAY!!!), but I worry about putting him in general population with his scab.

 

[Susan Skylark]

In cattle there is a condition called schistosomus reflexus, basically the calf is cut in half and turned inside out during fetal development, once I reached in to a cow having trouble and got a handful of heart first thing, not a good way to start a procedure! There are all sorts of weird and wacky developmental issues out there. My main concern besides infection is internal development, are his guts fully developed and functional? I fixed an umbilical hernia/unabsorbed yolk sac in a quail chick, little guy did great for a week, didn’t grow but perky little chap, until he just tipped over dead, something was wonky inside, the hernia was just a symptom I could see. If your guy grows on schedule and does normal chick stuff prognosis is good but if he’s sluggish, not growing, there may be other issues, and you need to be ready for a sad outcome.

 

[Midna03]

In cattle there is a condition called schistosomus reflexus, basically the calf is cut in half and turned inside out during fetal development, once I reached in to a cow having trouble and got a handful of heart first thing, not a good way to start a procedure! There are all sorts of weird and wacky developmental issues out there. My main concern besides infection is internal development, are his guts fully developed and functional? I fixed an umbilical hernia/unabsorbed yolk sac in a quail chick, little guy did great for a week, didn’t grow but perky little chap, until he just tipped over dead, something was wonky inside, the hernia was just a symptom I could see. If your guy grows on schedule and does normal chick stuff prognosis is good but if he’s sluggish, not growing, there may be other issues, and you need to be ready for a sad outcome.

Yes, that is something we are mindful of at this point considering how strangely his hatch went. We even have him marked so we can pick him out and check on him specifically on top of our other australorp chicks.

I am hopeful that he doesn't have anything internally wrong with him because his scab and navel generally isn't swollen, or poked out like you would expect of it when infected or even herniated, and his yolk was already inside by the time we hatched him out. We haven't glued our eyes to the incubator to watch him poop or anything so we aren't super certain if he is fully functioning that way, so maybe we should considering the circumstances. It would really suck to have him drop in a week, but if it happens, at least we tried to make sure he had a good start.

I've seen some weird stuff in our time with sheep and cattle myself but this is the first I've seen of something where a blood vessel got hung on a chick like this?? I dunno man, I just work here lol

 

[kattabelly]

Should I keep him separated from the brooder box for a while until it gets smaller and less noticeable? He has two RIR buddies with him in the incubator including the slip-tendon chick (who is walking great without vetwrap after last night with no more slipping, YAY!!!), but I worry about putting him in general population with his scab.

Personally I wouldn't keep a chick separated for an umbilical scab like that, it looks fairly minor. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they're doing ok and not being pecked or showing signs of deteriorating. I've never had an issue with scabs that small and in that location being pecked, even when they're going through the toe-eating stage.

 

[Midna03]

Personally I wouldn't keep a chick separated for an umbilical scab like that, it looks fairly minor. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they're doing ok and not being pecked or showing signs of deteriorating. I've never had an issue with scabs that small and in that location being pecked, even when they're going through the toe-eating stage.

Ok! I was just worried and didn't want to exacerbate any problems he might have from the way he was stuck and the scab itself. Also was worried because he would have 16 other roommates that could have their eyes on it potentially. Glad to know it doesn't look too bad and that he ought to be fine bunking up with everybody!

 

[Debbie292d]

Not sure how well my current rooster would receive him when it comes time to integrate!
He will definitely be kept regardless of gender if the others can behave semi-nicely aside typical pecking order squabbles.

He seems to be doing quite well this morning, walking like a pro and chirping up a storm. Here is a pic of his navel, albeit not a great one since his down is mostly in the way. I think it looks pretty good considering what happened, but what do y'all think? I don't think it looks infected, the surrounding skin is a normal pinkish color, at least to me anyway.

Should I keep him separated from the brooder box for a while until it gets smaller and less noticeable? He has two RIR buddies with him in the incubator including the slip-tendon chick (who is walking great without vetwrap after last night with no more slipping, YAY!!!), but I worry about putting him in general population with his scab.

Our roosters, and most roosters, are fine with chicks. They will sometimes defend them from aggressive hens and find food for them. In my latest case, a hen with 40 silkie chicks was in a pen with hutch and two other roosters. The two roosters get along is why they were together, and the two hens that had been in there were in broody jail. When I'd come in the pen, mom couldn't hide them all, so some would go cower behind the roosters. They just stood there.

 

[kattabelly]

Ok! I was just worried and didn't want to exacerbate any problems he might have from the way he was stuck and the scab itself. Also was worried because he would have 16 other roommates that could have their eyes on it potentially. Glad to know it doesn't look too bad and that he ought to be fine bunking up with everybody!

What I do (with barely-closed or scabby umbilicals, not had the other issue) is put something like savlon - I think neosporin in the US is at least vaguely equivalent? - or iodine on the scab when they first hatch, and once or twice more over the next 24 ish hours if I think it needs it.

I think the location of the umbilical means it just isn't that easy for other chicks to notice it, unless the chick in question has a habit of lying sprawled out on its side maybe.

 

[Midna03]

What I do (with barely-closed or scabby umbilicals, not had the other issue) is put something like savlon - I think neosporin in the US is at least vaguely equivalent? - or iodine on the scab when they first hatch, and once or twice more over the next 24 ish hours if I think it needs it.

I think the location of the umbilical means it just isn't that easy for other chicks to notice it, unless the chick in question has a habit of lying sprawled out on its side maybe.

Ok, we do have some iodine on hand for our lambs so I may use a qtip and dab some on him just to help make sure he is safe. Thank you!