small chick problem anyone????

[Nicos]

I've managed to have a proper look at the second chick which hatched last night. Mainly to get a better look at it's legs wheich are a bit spraddled

Anyway- I was shocked to notice it has a small navel hernia - about the size of a pea.

I've looked about on the net and spotted this...

Résultats Google Recherche d'images correspondant à http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x320/airheart43/pro3.jpg

and it's less that half that size.

Should I leave it alone- or bathe it to keep it moist?
It's soft to the touch ( washed hands first!)but shavings are attatched around it.

Advice please!!!

( hey up Di....we're getting through the entire chick medical dictionary between us!!!)

[Nicos]

OK...so I'm alone with this???...merde


......will let you know the outcome folks.

[bargainhunter]

There seems to be a high sucess rate with this, I do hope shes ok and pulls through fingers crossed for you, sorry i cant help

[RichmondHens]

I've never had a chick with this problem so cannot really advise. I would probably wait and see how it goes. However my instinct with all "imperfect" chicks is that they may not be worth the hassle. Only you can decide how you want to play it.

[Bramble-Poultry]

keep it seperate from the others, as otherwise the other chicks may nip at the hernia and actually make it worse or even pull out the stomach.

how old is the chick? we leave ours for 12-18 hours after hatching to allow the button to heal over. if you leave it to fend for itself, it will either survive or not. if the hernia dries up, the chances are that the chick will die as the intestine is damaged. however, sometimes the hernia absorbs itself back into the stomach and all should be well. unfortunately, only time will tell with this chap

[Glutton4...]

Ooooh poor little mite - I hope it pulls through. ((((hugs)))) and fingers crossed.

[kirsty b]

My white chick had one, on hatching it was about the size of a petit pois pea. I had a mad panic thinking I would have to cull, but decided to leave it be and see how it went.

Chick was up and about the next day absolutely fine and was eating and drinking well. I checked the navel a few times as chick grew, but when I last looked a couple of weeks ago it was all gone. Chick is now a noisy, healthy 7 weeks old and the most appalling scrounger if you go within a mile of it with anything remotely edible in your hand.

EDIT: just looked at pic, had a chick hatch (same hatch as noisy bugger above) with one slightly larger than one in pic, and we decided to give overnight just in case it improved/retracted (if it was no better we were going to cull to end any suffering), but sadly it didn't and it had died by the morning.

[MaureenHall]

I've had this twice with 2 different hatchings. The first one I hadn't a clue and as the other newly-hatched were attacking it, I had it culled. The second one is now a beautiful healthy (huge) 7 week old Croad Langshan. She nearly didn't survive, but I kept a close eye on her and the other hatchling too as that one was the one with badly splayed legs. I think that because there was only the 2 of them and she was more lively than the other, she didn't get attacked. If there'd been more then I'd have separated her

[Nicos]

Sounds like a similar situation to mine Maureen!

I'm going to bathe it in saline this morning as there are shavings stuck to it.
Will that be OK- or shoud I just leave well alone? ( I think the dried yolk sac may still be stuck on. I didn't like to poke around too much yesterday.

How long does it take to be absorbed/heal??

[di]

I don't think it was quite the same but one of the ones we've just hatched appeared to still have her umbillical cord hanging(with a little bobble on the end)when she hatched.(almost like a red bit of embroidery thread going into her navel)
I felt pretty crap about it as I'd had to resort to helping it out and worried I'd maybe gone too quick
The other three left well alone and within a couple of days it had dried up and gone.I didn't do anything with it at all.
Hope it's the same sort of thing with yours and that it's all gone soon.xxx
(Interestingly,it's the same one I thought hadsplayed legs...turned out it was me expecting it to be walking upright from the second it washatched)

[MaureenHall]

Nicos, if it's drying up and looking like a big dried scab, leave well alone. It was about 3 - 4 weeks before I noticed that Coriander's feathers had actually pushed it off (either that or she pecked it off herself )

[Nicos]

Right- just got back and it's a lively little thing!
I did soak what I thought to be a stuck shaving- and it turned out to be dried yolk sac. Came away easily.

What was underneath was the 'hernia' which was originally a deep red fleshy colour which is slowly turning black. Bit like a hard dry scab.
Will leave well alone now and leave it to Nature- little thing seems happy enough in itself!

[kirsty b]

Right- just got back and it's a lively little thing!
I did soak what I thought to be a stuck shaving- and it turned out to be dried yolk sac. Came away easily.

What was underneath was the 'hernia' which was originally a deep red fleshy colour which is slowly turning black. Bit like a hard dry scab.
Will leave well alone now and leave it to Nature- little thing seems happy enough in itself!

Thats good to know

[Nicos]

Little thing had it's first run outside in the big bad world late this afternoon.

Had to keep an eye on it though as the other gals had already spotted the 'raisin' hidden on it's bum

It did really well-scratching the floor- drinking water and munching away at the crumb sprinkled on the floor.

It's clearly not on full par- but it's definitely a survivor!

Got a piccie - so will post it soon- so you all know what I'm on about!

( legs are almost straight now too- with no help from me!)

[Jeanied]

Here is Nicos' promised piccie of the little un with a hernia.
This was taken at 2 days old.