Help! Pasty Butt

[Marc33]

We've got chicks from McMurray hatchery - they arrived Monday morning. We seem to be having trouble with pasty butt and don't want to lose any of our chicks!! They're in a brooder that is not too crowded, we have two red lamps for heat - the temperature seems about right because the chicks aren't piling but are evenly dispersed throughout the brooder. We've put out plenty of food and water - the water has added sugar and Quick Chick. We switched them from paper towels to pine shavings last evening. We're having a hard time cleaning them up using paper towels and warm water. What is the best way to pick it off - we are so worried about hurting them and pulling out their fuzz!

Not sure what is causing this, but does anyone have suggestions on treating and preventing??

Thanks!!!

 

[threehorses]

Actually, where the irritation of pasty butt causes a reddening of the skin, there can be fissures caused by the inflammation and the irritation. And often are. I've seen a number of pasty bottoms where the skin was irritated to this point!

Have you ever applied peroxide to a similar situation on your own skin? I have. It hurt like mad and burned. There were no open wounds. However, there was enough irritation to cause pain where the (non-visable) fissures in the skin were.

I'd be quite careful to accuse of false information.

 

[threehorses]

If you get some plain yogurt, there's no grit needed yet. Grit is for things that aren't readily dissolved (like grains, greens, etc).

On the yogurt, you'll just mix 1/2 teaspoon in a 1/2 cup of food. It doesn' t need to be exact. You can even do a whole teaspoon. Mixing that with their crumbles moistens them a little without exposing them to plain yogurt which quite a few birds don't like the straight texture of it.

Honestly, I like making a Glop of crumbles, a little egg yolk (freeze the rest for later use), a small dollop of yogurt, and water. I make it to where it's only slightly moist depending on what they like. If they're weak birds, I might mix pedialyte or vitamin/electrolyte treated water. If I'm trying to improve their digestion, I might even use non-sweetened applesauce for older birds. They love the taste and apple pectin is a brilliant PRE-biotic. (Prebiotics nourish the beneficial living bacteria in a gut, encouraging their growth and spread and vigor. Probiotics ARE composed of beneficial living bacteria meant to colonize the gut to nourish and protect a bird. Antibiotics are, of course, chemicals used to kill bacteria - good and bad.)

Birds can have a little of the yogurt, although normally slightly lactose sensitive, because the good living bacteria that are injected back into yogurt after its pasteurization continue to process the lactose. So we can give them some, just not loads all the time. I just think of it in terms of what a cup of yogurt to us would be if we were their size. That's how I gauge it.

So what's going on with your bird?

 

[lisa760]

OMG...I just spent days off and on staring at chick's butts. ROFL....

My mother would be proud...oh yeah, that's why I went to college.....

The things we do for our animals. I love my chickens.

Leslie,

I was thinking the same thing! I spend my days looking at chick butts and goat vaginas (she's due any day now!). They need to send kids to farms to learn about reproduction "hands on"!

 

[Wes in Tx]

To hot and not enough protein. Get you actuve culture yogurt and feed to them mixed with their feed. Take away one of the heat lamps. Quit using sugar. Also boil some eggs and feed to them.

 

[cluckychick]

owlwithpeas and mallan I think what your seeing it where the cord was attached...

OP: take away the sugar water they don't need it if they are doing fine. Their water should be given at room temp. Cold water lowers internal temps in new chicks. Use a warm wash cloth, warm water to get poo off then use a qtip and olive oil and rub some around the vent and surrounding area.

 

[bails g]

I received my chick from McMurry that are 3 weeks old and I have 2 that had it bad, one was so "backed up" I ended up cleanin her out with a bobby pin and olive oil, it as so compacted, Im surprised she did not die. Olive oil worked great, and I hard boiled an egg and gave them yogurt for a week, also added some cider vinegar too in the water. I wipe the two butts mornin and nite, it is SLOWLY clearning up. Hang in there, hopefuly it will get better. I also found that letting them roam in a bigger area helped them. I had them in the brooder for about 2 weeks. It seems maybe the excercise and moving around helps keep things moving.... Good Luck!!! Feelin ur pain.

 

[threehorses]

Crumbles are just a name for ground up pelleted food. It looks a bit like old fashioned cat litter.

Probiotics are given in the food because they're living creatures and they're provided in a base in which the good bacteria (which is what probiotics are) can eat and grow.

If you put Probios in water, you're putting a little dairy whey and live bacteria in the water all day. The dairy whey encourages bacterial growth, but in a waterer it's not GOOD bacterial growth that it encourages. The bacteria don't live in the water.

You give them on feed instead so you know they get in the bird while the bacteria are alive, and so you don't encourage nasty water and pretty much undo all the good you were trying to do.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Try a teaspoon of ACV to a quart of water for a few days or so. I've found that clears it right up.

Lisa760, try putting a little olive oil around her vent after cleaning to help prevent more from sticking. As far as how often to clean her? Once or twice a day should be plenty.

 

[ten chicks]

I have one chick that's always had poop stick to her hind end. It never covered her opening and she always has been active. I've never been diligent about cleaning her as it made ME uncomfortable! She's 5 weeks old now and her rectal area is red and bloody. I wiped some chunks of poo from her and will try snipping off some of the rest.
If I give the yogurt and apple cider vinegar, will all the others be okay to consume it? I have 10 total.

You have to wash and dry her bottom,you can use a blow dryer on LOW setting to dry her. If pasty butt is a problem,just apply a bit of vaseline on her bottom. The problem you have now is the other chicks are pecking at her,and you now run the risk of infection.