I have the Pasty Butt Blues... And a few questions!

[Laurajean]

Okay, so my chicks are three days old. Today I noticed "Tiny" the little runt had bad pasty butt. I did what I've read to do, which was wipe it off with a warm wet paper towel. The poor little sweetie was SO good while I worked away at it, but I'm left with some questions and concerns.

1. It was RIDICULOUSLY hard to remove! It was caked on and I've read pulling at it can injure them, so I stood there for a very long time trying to get it all off. I got almost all of it off, cleared her vent and hope I did good enough. Is there an easier way to remove it?

2. I started checking out the others, and a couple had some poop starting to cake on their bum area, but not over the vent. I also noticed that a couple of their vent opens are bright red, almost looking bloody, but not actually bleeding, just red I think. Is this normal??

3. Finally, I'm wondering how long this pasting up thing goes on for? When will it stop? And is there any way to prevent it?

Thanks

PS: Also for the first time, I woke to discover they've spread their food everywhere. Like they dug it out of the feeder holes and made a mess with it. Could this somehow be related? Or are they just being naughty as they grow?

 

[ske1806]

Hey I just started with baby chicks -- my batches are 3 weeks and one week. The first time I was so worried about "pasting" that I think I overdid it and may have done more harm then good. (One died anyhow and I just stressed it out unnecessarily and another one had a naked spot where I kind of ripped away some fluff. Now I let the butt be dirty a bit, as long as the vent is open. As they get older, this just isn't an issue anymore. I've seen them actually preen each other a bit. It's just the first few days when they are too weak and helpless to deal themselves, I think. If the vent is covered you have to unblock of course. IT is super hard. I just ended up holding them under a light stream of warm water, until the poop got soggy enough to get away with a fingernail or q-tip. Then I patted dry and held their butt under the lamp a bit to get dry-ish again.

As for messy, it is amazing how clean my 1 week old are compared to the three week olds. There is nothing to do except refill. In the older chick brooder it's mayhem. Wood shavings and poop everywhere. They just start getting more active, etc, as they get older.

 

[jjhere]

One of mine had pasty butt too. I soaked a paper towel in warm water and just held it against her bum for about 5 minutes, gently wiped away some and then repeated. It took about 15 minutes or so, but eventually it came off. HTH

 

[featherz]

Out of my eight chicks, one has pasty butt. She's got a red beak (RIR) so I call her 'rudy'. She's also a bit runty. What I've been doing which seems much more gentle to me than when I was trying with a wet washcloth, is dipping a q-tip in vaseline and 'rolling' it around the vent area. takes a few tries but eventually any clumps come off and the vaseline is there to protect against more pasting. I also did this to one of my leghorns which had a BIT of pasty butt and worked well there also. So far no red or bloody vent areas although the one chick is a little pinkish there.

Poor thing, she's always being attacked by a big hand holding a q-tip. cheep!

 

[bantybev]

I've heard that pasty butt can be from the brooder being a bit too warm. I've also read on here to add a little ground up oatmeal to their food to help prevent it. Some people have had good luck with adding very fine chick grit or construction sand to the food...just a sprinkle on top. I have had pasty butt with one batch of 11 chicks. 5 of the 11 had it...UGH! The other two batches I've had didn't have a sign of it. I did keep the brooder a little cooler with the second and 3rd bunch. I started at 90 instead of 95. It usually goes away after 3 or 4 days...so hang in there

 

[HerbiLady]

It shouldn't last much longer than the first four or five days or week at most. I quit doing worried "butt checks" more than a week ago and mine are a little over 2 weeks old now. Traveling (if they were shipped) is hard on them and getting a little too cold can contribute to it as well. Make sure they're nice and toasty warm.

I used a wet q-tip and sort of just worked at the area gently to clear the vent and when it got soft enough, I could use a paper towel to pinch a little of the pasted stuff off VERY CAREFULLY. You can snip it off REALLY CAREFULLY with a teensy scissors but I was too paranoid to try that. I did end up plucking a bit of down but not what was really close to the vent as a preventative measure.

After a couple days, I just focused on keeping vents opens (I only had a couple out of 30 like that) and once they get big enough to reach back there on their own, they do a great job of keeping their own butts clean

 

[Laurie's Silkies]

Folks, you can really save stress on the poor chick and yourself by simply using a small very sharp scissors to cut away that cemented clump of poop. between cutting and picking it off with your fingers it is a breeze. Just trim carefully around that vent. Afterwards, there will be no down for the droppings to stick to. no need for all that water, washcloths and soaking. It helps to keep a special scissors just for that purpose, that is not used for any other purpose that would make it dull.

 

[Laurajean]

A few days? That would be great if the concern for that ends so soon. It has me crazy worried (first time mother). Seriously if someone were a fly on my wall: I'm standing there with Tiny (who is truly tiny) in my hand, wiping poop from his bum and explaining to her OUT LOUD, "I'm sorry Tiny, I know this sucks, but you need to be able to poop". LOL. Of course I want them all to be happy and healthy, but I can't help worrying extra for little Tiny. She's smaller than the lens cap on my camera! And she is so sweet and tolerant. When I hold her she just sits there silently, looking at me sweetly.

I like the Vaseline idea. As long as that's safe, I'll go buy some today. Even though I cleaned Tiny up, her bum is still stiff and crunchy, so I'm still very worried.

 

[sixinva]

Seeing my son wouldnt loan me his lip balm, i too used vaseline once the area was fairly clean....and the vaseling seemed to help soften up what was still stuck. We only had one out of 6 with it...they are 5 weeks today....we still call her Crusty! Good luck.

 

[Laurie's Silkies]

I've had much more pasty butt in shipped chicks than chicks I have personally picked up. Stress caused chilling I suppose.