Baby Chick Emergency

[lauriej57]

Chicks normally only get pasty butt during the first week, sometimes into the 2nd week. It's usually caused by temperature changes and stress.

I am sorry to hear that lost this chick, that's always hard.

I didn't read your first post, but for future reference, the easiest way I've found to take care of pasty butt is to dampen a paper towel with warm water, and sometimes you have to pull at the crud, even if the chick peeps like crazy. Then you have to dry them and make sure they keep really warm. Make sure you keep your brooder at 95 degrees the first week then decrease the temp by 5 degrees every week.

The chicks you get at TSC are probably anywhere from one day old to 2 weeks old. They can usually tell you how old they are. Chicks are normally shipped almost as soon as they are born because they can live up to 3 days without food or water. Any chicks much older would not survive the shipping.

 

[mpostlind]

Thanks everybody for your help. This is my second set of chicks. The first, we had the heat lamp thing right on the edge of their tub, but it got up to 120, so we moved it a little higher. I'll check the temp in the little chick tub again today. They were panting this morning when I got up, so it's probably that they're too hot. I did have to clip at the fuzzy stuff on a few to keep their pasty butt clear. I'm monitoring them very closely, now. The larger chicks are just about ready to go outside, so I'm thankful they're all ok. It broke my heart to lose such a tiny little one though.

Thanks again, everyone.