Young chick with prolapsed vent, what to do?

[Sunny Side Up]

Tonight I noticed a 3-week-old chick has a prolapsed vent. The vent is pooched out about a quarter inch and is bright red. The chick's backside is splashed with whitish poo. While I washed off its behind there was a trickle of more whitish stuff coming out.

I noticed there was something wrong when I picked up the chick tonight & noticed it felt lighter than it should. It's crop wasn't full like it should be at that time of day. Otherwise, the chick is active & fairly perky.

I put some sugar on the protruding vent. We'll see how much improvement there is by morning. It lives with only one other chick, and that chick isn't bothering the prolapsed one.

What causes this? Can it be effectively cured at this age, or will it grow up into a hen that has frequent blow-outs? Would it be kinder to cull?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Poor little thing still has its prolapse. Its back side is covered with dried white-ish poop. That makes me wonder if it has some digestive ailment that is making it poop so strangely. What could make such a young chick prolapse? Is it really worth it to try & treat, or will it always be having problems?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm sorry your chick is having problems, how old is it. and what vare you feeding it? I have never heard of a young chcik having a prolaspe. will see if I can find some answers. this is all I could find about a chick having this problem. wish i could help more..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=300891

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Like I said, this is a 3-week-old chick. Eating regular chick starter like all the other chicks I've ever kept. It's been doing very well for its first 2.5 weeks or so. And now this.

I got this chick plus another one from a local teacher who had bought some of my hens' fertile eggs to hatch in his classroom. I've been keeping them together, separate from the other birds in my flock. It's a shame that this chick now has the prolapse, it had been doing better than the other one. I had put both these chicks with a bantam hen who had just hatched some chicks of her own, hoping she would adopt them too. However, I found the other chick with its neck severely pecked open at the back, I wasn't sure it would survive. I just put Neosporin on its wounds and it has recovered nicely. Now the other chick is having this problem with its prolapse.

I'll try to get some Prep H soon and try that, applying it with a Q-tip. I'm hesitant to cull since it would leave the other chick all on its own. I'm of the school of Where-There's-Life-There's-Hope, and giving a chicken a chance as long as it doesn't seem to be distressed or suffering.