1 week old chick with pasty butt and wings drooping

[missionarywife]

Help, I believe he is very sick. He is sleeping standing up with his wings drooping. what can I do for him?

 

[sune42]

Clean the behind! I used warm water and a q-tip. Had to do it a few times. Finally I used those safety scissors that you use to cut kids fingernails. The tiny ones with the rounded tips. I used those to carefully trim the fuzz around the vent of my most stubborn pasty butt chick. That finally worked.

As for sleeping standing up, my chicks did that for a bit. Until the realized they could lay down to sleep and wouldn't wake themselves up when they fall over.

 

[missionarywife]

Ok, I had already cleaned him up and applied vasoline. I can breathe easy if it is normal to sleep standing up. I just don't want to lose anymore babies.

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

Quote:
Gently wash his butt with warm water, I've even used a little soap to help loosen things up. Some people recommend a damp cloth or paper towel but I found gently running warm water works best with little irritation. Make sure he's warm and cozy afterwards. I had a chick that kept getting pasty butt over and over. The poor thing, his butt was so raw that it scabbed a bit. I very carefully trimmed the feathers around the vent to keep poo from getting stuck there. I was persistent and checked on the little one frequently and he quickly got better. Good luck, I hope your little one pulls through.

-Alex

 

[Wynette]

The #1 cause of chick issues is a damp brooder. It's hard to keep it extremely dry, which they need, because they poo a lot, and they can also tip over their drinking water. If they're doing this, try putting the waterer on a 2x4 or something just a bit higher that they can still drink from, but up off the floor just a bit. Hope your little one is okay!

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

Quote:
Ya beat me to it!

I've seen human babies sleep like some of my chickies do! Butt up, face down!

 

[missionarywife]

It is dry in the brooder but my husband has been messing with the temp and I think that may be causing the problem. They are under the heat lamp now.

 

[sune42]

Quote:
If they are eating and drinking, and it's coming out the other end, good things there. I wouldn't worry too much about the sleeping. Do you have a thermometer in there to see the temp? Good to hear the behind was taken care of. Enjoy them!

 

[missionarywife]

He is dying I believe. He won't eat and only drinks if we help him

 

[AndreaS]

I had a very similar experience with one of my chicks. Here is what i did:

Seperated her. Kept her warm. (Moved her to her own brooder box with her own heat lamp and thermometer to check the temp) Gave her scrambled eggs that were ground quite fine in a food processor as her food. Got poly-vi-sol baby vitamins WITHOUT IRON from walgreens. Dribbled a drop along her beak line twice a day. Tried my best to get her to eat the scrambled eggs, and every hour or so i would dip her little beak in diluted honey water. (Heat the honey first quite well to kill any bacteria) I suppose sugar water is a safer bet, but my chick didn't like it as much as the honey water. When you dip her beak, be very careful not to get water in her nostrils.

By the end of the 2nd day, she actually started eating on her own....i had to tap my finger in the eggs quite a bit to get her to eat. She was crying a lot because she was lonley, so i would stick her in my shirt up against my chest for a little while. I know i am not the only one who has done this!

Third day, i had to go to work and was terrified i would find her dead when i got home. When i got home from work, she had lept over her cardboard box and was lying next to the brooder box with the other chicks in it, pecking at the box and chirping

I figured she was okay to go back with them after that. I kept a close eye on her and the bullying had stopped. I just kept up with the poly-vi-sol for about a week and tapered off after that. They all got a tiny bit of Organic apple cider vinegar in their water every few days.

She ended up just fine. For a looong time she was about 1/3 the size of the other chicks, but now she has caught up. Her name is bernice, and her pic is my avatar. The good side to having to do all of this for her is that she is a total lap chicken now! Very sweet and tame.

All of the above was advice i had gotten from this forum, and it worked quite well for me.

Good luck! You can PM me if you have any questions or need any more details about what i did.

Andrea