Rescued a little pasty butt chick from the feed store...now what?

(Sorry for all the newbie posts, by the way.)

Okay, I posted last night worrying about a chick that had just a tiny smear of poo debris on his rump feathers, but I cleaned it off and all is well. It wasn't anything like pasty butt, thank goodness.

But today when I went to Orscheln to get 2 Australorps and a red bulb for night time (they really keep me up all night cheeping), I saw a sad little pasty butt New Hampshire Red. So of course I got it because I knew now to clean pasty butt and I figured that nobody else was going to do it. I sat in the car and cleaned it up with some warm water (from a water bottle) and paper towels while my daughter was in dance class. So now it's clean and has had one normalish looking poop and then a runny one. I made sure lil' pasty butt saw the grit, and the water (with ACV) and I have some raw goat's milk warming with acidophilus powder in it (quickie yogurt). I haven't given it the milk/probiotic yet because I'm not sure...it's only a week old.

Also, it seems to be integrating well with the others and is being fairly lively, but it sure seems to be cheeping a lot. Is it traumatized? Or sick?

ETA: She seems to be trying to sleep standing up? My brown EE seemed like she did that too when we first brought her home, but because of the pasty butt on Red I'm wondering if it is hurting her rump to lay down to sleep.

I wouldn't go with probiotics yet... Just chick starter and fresh water is fine.

Chicks get pasty butt - a lot of the time - just through the stress of shipping and also through too warm temps in their brooders. At two weeks, the warmest spot in the brooder should be around 80 - 85 degrees, no warmer than 90 at the absolute most and week 3 would be no higher than 85 degrees. There should also be a cooler end of the brooder so they can get away from the heat when they want to do so.

They don't need grit unless they're getting foods/treats other than cooked egg or yoghurt or shredded cheese.

I think "trying" to sleep standing up is just falling asleep without falling down. It shouldn't have a thing to do with a hurting hiney.

Don't worry so much, the poor chick's biggest problem, the pasty butt, has been taken care of and these little guys are hardier than we give them credit for. Sounds to me like she's doing just fine.

I wasn't going to buy any chicks this spring! but we went in to buy scratch and layer crumble and I peeked in the chick cages. I just had to rescue one little baby about to die. The chick I just bought had pasty butt that was bigger than his head. I told hubby I had to buy him or he would be dead by the next morning. I actually thought he was beyond saving, but i didn't want him to be in an impersonal cage to die. I took him home and was able to wash it off by submerging his bottom in warm water. I also picked up a female with only a small pasty butt. They don't take care of that at the farm store! Anyway, the male was so tired that he kept falling asleep standing up for the first 24 hours. Every time he had to poop he cried with each push. He barely ate and I managed to get him to drink a drop or two of water before he would nod off to sleep again. He is on the right (tiny little guy) and she is on the left.)

Now he is doing so much better! He is energetic, not crying when he poops, laying down to sleep (most of the time)! He still needs his bottom cleaned more, but I'm letting his traumatized skin have a bit of a break. Her skin has a big scab from the ordeal.

He has followed the example of the girl to learn pecking and preening. I'm so glad I bought him a companion.

This was my first time hand raising chicks. Last spring we bought chicks and put them under my two broody hens. They pretty much took it from there. This time, I ended up spending a lot on supplies. I just couldn't bear to see them suffer.

If after you clean their butts, you put some olive oil on their butt, it makes it a lot easier to clean after that and will sooth the skin if its chapped. A chick that peeps a lot may be cold.