Is this black spot?

[hanabi]

I had a Self Society chick hatch today and it has a black spot on the right of its abdomen (see pics below, sorry for the poor quality). I immediately thought about black spot disease, but all the sources I have read suggest the disease is spread to the chick after birth, via feeding etc. This chick was born in my incubator and had the black spot from hatching. It has had no contact with its parents (yet). I am hand-feeding this little bub and it is eating fine at the moment.

This is the 2nd time I have seen such a spot. The first time it was on a chick born to a different pair, also hatched in an incubator and hand-fed, so there was no chance a disease was spread to the chick after hatching. It also had the black spot at hatch. It was weak at birth though and did die, but that might be unrelated to the black spot.

So, does anybody know if black spot can appear on newly-hatched chicks? And do the images below suggest black spot disease or simply normal variations in new-borns?

Thanks in advance.

[cindy]

black spot can occur from bacteria entering the umbilical cord....

Black spot is a liver bleed....either caused by internal parasites or bacteria.

The mother can also pass bacteria to an egg as she lays it.

Bacteria can be transferred to the egg and can seep through the egg shell since it is porous which can effect the chick.

Did you hand feed the chick once it hatched?

[hanabi]

Hello cindy

Thanks for the reply. Yes I hand-fed this chick and two others for a short time before passing them on to fosters. In the end I think all three chicks that had spots died within a short time, so the prognosis for chicks with this black spot does not look good.

[Bacteria can be transferred to the egg and can seep through the egg shell since it is porous which can effect the chick.]

Although I knew that egg shell was porous to oxygen I did not realise that bacteria could pass through it too. Your post has certainly been educational Cindy.

Cheers,

Ross