Please help - chicken prolapse???

Margie · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:25 pm

The college where I work has just bought 80 tiny chicks - they are about 4 or 5 days old now. The Ag. teacher showed me one that looks like it has a prolapse out the back end. He said he cleaned it up a bit because the other chicks were picking at the site of the problem and he has taken the chick out and put it in a box by itself. He said he tried to gently push the prolapse back into place but it keeps popping out again. The chick seemed to become distressed when he isolated it.
Can U advise whether we should do anything else or is it a lost cause? I mean, if she were to pull through and still have this prolapse hanging out, they will pick on her again once she is put back in with the others won't she? Plus would her egg laying ability later on be jeapodized by this prolapse problem? What would have caused it? They are housed in a nice clean brooder with medicated crumble and clean water. Have not lost any others so far.
Would appreciate any hints.
Thanks,
Margie

Deans' Poultry · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:48 pm

Hi Margie, Yes it happens occasionally especially when the chicks are incubated. Did it have the prolapse when it was born or did it develope after being put in the brooder?

Probably best to cull this one cos as ya said if it keeps popping back out the chicks will surely peck at it again. 1 out of 80 isn't too bad though

jo-chicken · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:26 pm

I'm afraid there is not much hope for this one. I'm sure some vet could perform an operation or something but with a nice price attached. This sometimes happens esp with inc as Darren has said and even more common when people assist with the hatching process as the insides don't have time to go through the process of being brought inside the chick as it moves around the egg while it is making a hole in the circumference of the shell. This process if interrupted by keen observers can go terribly wrong

Deans' Poultry · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:12 pm

jo-chicken wrote:

This sometimes happens esp with inc as Darren has said and even more common when people assist with the hatching process as the insides don't have time to go through the process of being brought inside the chick as it moves around the egg while it is making a hole in the circumference of the shell. This process if interrupted by keen observers can go terribly wrong

Yep so true Jo. My better half is the master of helping chicks that are having trouble getting out of the egg. Sometimes it may take half an hour to get the chick out through diffrent stages of it's entrapment and the loss of a little blood at times but 99 times out of 100 the chick will live, unless of course there is something like a prolapse or something in which it more than likely would have died anyway.

Of course she'll only do this when neccessary like say after 24 hrs of the chick struggling without much success or progress at getting out.

Don't try this at home! We're professionals! :lol:

...Well she's pretty handy, i'm just a clumsy thick fingered chook farmer lol :-D

Cheers

Margie · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:30 pm

Thanks for those replies. I'll pass that on to the Ag. teacher. He is like a worried mother at the moment. But I think you are right. He will probably have to cull that one. He only noticed it today (Tuesday). I looked in on the chicks several times over the weekend and all was well so all I can think of is that it's just bad luck, poor little thing. Yes, he's doing well with only one in 80 having a prob.
Oh, by the way, these little peeps came up by bus from Toowoomba last week and got cut off at Ayr with all the floods. They took such good care of them - not one was dead on arrival even with the delay enroute. :-D

Thanks again.
Margie

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

Wow that is good , were they from Darling Downs Hatchery ?

Fistly I agree with everyone else , it is probably best to put it down ,But..
I have heard of people using Pile cream for prolapse in chickens depending on how bad the case , and if the chicken is in to much pain , I thought I'd mention it as, if it doesn't help this time it might help someone else out later on down the track .

Good luck with your chickens , Ian

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

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