Recovering from Pasty Butt

Urchickchic

Songster
6 Years
Apr 7, 2017
113
81
152
I am raising my first flock. They are three weeks old and two of the three barre rocks got pasty butt the first week. My Easter Eager's and Rhode Island reds were unaffected. I they all came from the feed store and were a few days old. this showed up in the first week. One had it bad and was very stunted. As soon as I realized what it was, I cleaned it off and kept her vent clean with the water q tip and Vaseline as it reoccurred for a few days. Unfortunately she lost the down around her vent. At three weeks it hasn't grown back. She is thriving now, finally getting wing feathers , she eats drinks , is social and seems relaxed and lays down. She is also half the size of the others. I don't see her getting pecked and she is eating, drinking, and pooping normally. Should I be concerned and are there any other steps I should take? Thanks for the advice!
 
I'd say that you have done a good job! If the chick is acting normally and thriving, then I'm not sure what else you can do.

ETA: Welcome to BYC
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Some chicks are slow growers. If she is acting normally, and not getting picked on, you did the right thing, and she'[s just fine. Pasty Butt can be caused by a chick getting too cold, so you might try raising their brooder temperature next time.
 
Thanks! I was just concerned that the down was not growing back-- will they get another growth of down or do they go right from down to feathers? I just want to know if I should expect the little one to grow down back or just go right to feathers. Thanks!
 
The bare spot will feather in eventually as it normally would have grown feathers to replace or add to the down. No worries and honestly less down gives less of a place for poop to accumulate for now so be happy. I have a Polish that had persistent pasty butt that I kept swabbing with coconut oil after each cleaning due to the more reported benefits of coconut oil I researched. His pasty butt kept reoccurring while all of the other 10 chicks were unaffected. Finally when there was almost no more down to catch on it got less intense and the swelling was able to recede from not having to work at getting it off so hard. Be happy if it is more bare and keep doing what you are doing.
 
Of our 12 chicks, I think five of them had pasty butt at one point or another. Seems to be an issue in the 0-3 week range mostly. My observation is that their necks grow long enough at that point that they can groom the vent area themselves. We tried the moist paper towel method, and that was ineffective. So we just dunked their rear ends in a bowl of warm water and fondled the dingleberries until they broke up and came off. With two chicks, the down got patchy around the vents. We kept an eye on them to make sure the others didn't vent-peck them. We bought a bottle of Blu-Kote, just in case - haven't had to use it yet.

Our chicks seem to be going directly to feathers, so having a sorta-bald butt for a week didn't cause issues. We made sure the chicks had plenty of space to roam around, and had some things to play with. If my children are any indication, when they're bored, they will beat on each other ... just because there's nothing else to do.
 
I was using warm water on a cotton pad to clean up the
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butts but found through trial and error that a cotton pad soaked with a few drops of olive oil was more effective at cleaning their little hiney and it leaves a little coating on their vents that helps to keep them a bit cleaner. I'm all about moisturizing that little booty!
 
Thanks for all the info! They are thriving. Little Poo (the stunted one) is finally catching up in size. We just finished building the coop this weekend and that will be the next big step.
 

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