Fresh silkie with umbilical cord hernia maybe?

[Mariosmom]

Hello! I just had three silkies hatch yesterday morning and one had a hard time disconnecting from its egg due to the umbilical cord. Cord finally disconnected from the egg but I am afraid the chick gave itself a hernia. This chick was very active in the incubator and did not want to stop moving even with the egg attached. I couldn’t open the incubator to help because I had two others with external pips.

Is there anything I can do to help it heal/go away? I read something about applying iodine to dry it up? This is my first time hatching chicks and I have read that odds are not good but I definitely want to try!

Thanks!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hello! I just had three silkies hatch yesterday morning and one had a hard time disconnecting from its egg due to the umbilical cord. Cord finally disconnected from the egg but I am afraid the chick gave itself a hernia. This chick was very active in the incubator and did not want to stop moving even with the egg attached. I couldn’t open the incubator to help because I had two others with external pips.

Is there anything I can do to help it heal/go away? I read something about applying iodine to dry it up? This is my first time hatching chicks and I have read that odds are not good but I definitely want to try!

Thanks!

Hi! Can you pull the chick out, holding her gently, and get a better photo of her naval area?
In future, it is commonly believed that opening the incubator will doom the other eggs-- this is largely false. While opening the incubator for long amounts of time after an external pip can cause shrink wrapping, this doesnt happen often. It's generally best to go ahead and open the incubator to assist a struggling/unwell chick.

 

[Mariosmom]

Hi! Can you pull the chick out, holding her gently, and get a better photo of her naval area?
In future, it is commonly believed that opening the incubator will doom the other eggs-- this is largely false. While opening the incubator for long amounts of time after an external pip can cause shrink wrapping, this doesnt happen often. It's generally best to go ahead and open the incubator to assist a struggling/unwell chick.

Thanks for your quick reply! I considered opening and I’m so sad I didn’t!

Here is a photo I just took. Chick is still very spry and fluffy so I hope it’s adequate.

On a side note, I did notice while it was hatching that there was a little blood on the inner membrane as it was zipping. That was not the case with the other two.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Looks normal. Occasionally you get fleshy belly buttons, but those rarely need any treatment, since they dry up quickly.

The string is the umbilical cord.

 

[Mariosmom]

Thank you! It didn’t know fleshy belly button was a thing and just found another thread with a silkie that had the same problem. I shouldn’t need to worry about separating this chick from the others? I’ve only seen it being pecked at once by another chick.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thank you! It didn’t know fleshy belly button was a thing and just found another thread with a silkie that had the same problem. I shouldn’t need to worry about separating this chick from the others? I’ve only seen it being pecked at once by another chick.

As long as the area is dry, it's fine. If you feel it's needed, dye the area with blue food dye.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Here's a fresh Fleshy Belly Button.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thanks for your quick reply! I considered opening and I’m so sad I didn’t!

Here is a photo I just took. Chick is still very spry and fluffy so I hope it’s adequate.

On a side note, I did notice while it was hatching that there was a little blood on the inner membrane as it was zipping. That was not the case with the other two.

It looks okay, not too bad. The remaining cord attached will just dry up and fall off soon-
I wouldnt worry too much about separating. If it is being pecked at, I would definitely separate for a few hours until the naval is looking dried up and good. But it will probably be okay.
Beautiful chick by the way!

 

[Mariosmom]

Thank you! Feeling so much better about what’s going on.