Help! Pasty Butt

[Vermont Mama]

Hi! How much apple cider vinegar do you mix in with their water?
We are using medicated food.
Thanks so much!

 

[lisa760]

Hi! I am a new chick mama from Wednesday morning.

I, too, have been staring at a chick bottom for way too long.
One of our two silkie bantams has it- she is also the smallest in the flock. She seems to be able to poop but it gets all around her vent area and the poop is not as big as the others' poop (not sure if this is b/c there is a partial blockage I can't see or just b/c she is so little.)

I am struggling with the balance of cleaning the area and over-stressing her out. She is sooo tiny and fragile. None of the other girls is picking on her, but she does self segregate for a while after I have held her to clean her out. She is eating and drinking and rejoind the flock after a while. The others do peck at her bottom (to clean it?) once in awhile, and she does the same with others (who might have a little poo but no pasty butt).

Is it ok to leave her bottom a little matted and messy if nothing is blocked and only clean 2x a day? I am patting it dry with cotton balls but not completely- as she gets pretty stressed. She is preening and the fluff is slowly returning. When should it clear up? I the yogurt all I need ? A friend said grass pieces also help. Is this ok?

THANKS SO MUCH!

UPDATE: 5pm EST: now, she has a red swollen -what I can only describe as hemmorhoid like- growth on the inside rim of her vent. I have been using QTips on the exterior -nothing abrasive. I am really worried. Am I causing more damage? What should I do?

Edited by Vermont Mama - Yesterday at 7:18 pm



I would think twice a day is plenty. I've used hard boiled eggs, sand, dirt, acv. I think the problem lies with the shipping and I don't have much control over that!! In the future I'm going to buy local or hatch eggs. I had 50 chicks last month and at least 1/3 had pasty butt issues, they must have had issues in transport. I mentioned this to the breeder that I got the last set of 25, she put a heating pad in with them and I had 0 issues with pasty butt. I think the numbers speak to it being a chill during shipping issue.

 

[frogz]

Hi!  How much apple cider vinegar do you mix in with their water?
We are using medicated food.
Thanks so much!

 

I usually put in a splash or two

 

[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.

 

[Vermont Mama]

Thank you all so much! I did the yogurt in the food and olive oil on her bottom tonight. They LOVED the yogurt. Will do the ACV tomorrow morning. She has a small growth inside her vent- wondering if it is due to irritation... She was visibly upset, chirping for much longer than usual tonight after I cleaned her but seems to have settled down and ate and drank. Now she is lying down asleep (but still self- segregating).

 

[BScott03]

Glad to find this thread! I've tried yogurt, boiled eggs and ACV in their water and it has help tremendously!

 

[peppersow]

Whenever I go to buy new chicks the first thing I do is look for pasty butt. If they have it, I pick up another chick. My magic trick for when I get the chicks home is to immediately give them water with some apple cider vinegar, let them eat a mashed, boiled egg yolk (the dogs love the whites even though chicks don't), and to top it off I check all chicks for two weeks 2-3 times a day. And if any appear to develop it, I put a few drops of dawn dish soap and hot water on a dish towel and scrub the chicks' vents and bottoms until clear of poo. Then I rinse the chicks' bottoms and give them a gentle pat down with some paper towels. I've found that my chicks don't care for yogurt or any mixture of yogurt and chick food. Also I always use nutrena medicated chick starter and give them grit the second week, dried mealworms the third week, and by the fourth week I give them live crickets. Variety is the spice of life but it also keeps chickens happy and healthy!

actually, my chicks love yogurt.

 

[frogz]

Really? What kinda do you feed them, if you don't mind me asking?

actually, my chicks love yogurt.

 

[Vermont Mama]

I just fed ours Butterworks Farm (from Vermont) natural plain yogurt.
All 8 of them went crazy for it - i mixed in 1 generous tsp with about 1 cup of chick food.

 

[thejustus7]

Our chick (squishy) had pasty butt once we soaked her and then picked off the poo. She got this a few more times but as she grew the problem disappeared. If they have long feathers on their rears then I would suggest clipping them down around that area. Good luck to everyone who still get this problem with their chicks!