Arizona Chickens

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DesertChic said:
The flush is 1 tsp of Epsom salt dissolved in 1 cup of water. You administer one full syringe of the liquid to each chicken in need. The number one reason this is used is to treat vent gleet...aka "poopy butt". A single treatment followed by ensuring that the chicken has plenty of access to fresh water is typically sufficient to treat the condition. (I also follow up with the addition of extra vitamins and probiotics to their feed and water.) The ES flushes out their system.

I've also used this treatment on chickens that seemed to suddenly be "unwell" but for which I had no sure diagnosis. It's pretty amazing stuff and has always resulted in a rapid overall improvement of the bird, even during times of high stress, such as during heavy molt. That's actually when I see the most vent gleet too, is during heavy molt...especially if the hen continues to lay eggs regularly during the molt.
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Does this work for younger birds, too? That's a good option to know, but I just received my order of chicks today (YAY!), and one looks like pasty butt. I cleaned it up with warm water and paper towel. It hasn't been acting strangely, still eating, drinking and socializing, and occasionally picks at its butt on occasion since the cleaning.
 
Bobby Basham said:
Does this work for younger birds, too? That's a good option to know, but I just received my order of chicks today (YAY!), and one looks like pasty butt. I cleaned it up with warm water and paper towel. It hasn't been acting strangely, still eating, drinking and socializing, and occasionally picks at its butt on occasion since the cleaning.
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You definitely do NOT want to use the Epsom salt flush on chicks. They could become horribly dehydrated and even die. Their systems are too young and delicate.

Probiotics in the water is the best thing I've found to prevent and/or treat pasty butt in chicks. I buy those little packets of chick vitamins and probiotics at the feed store and add both to their water.
 
Entirely off topic, but I plan to move to Alaska at the start if summer, and I was looking for dairy goats, Nubians, dwarfs, etc, but I can't seem to find any registered goat breeders here, and all the goats on Craigslist seem to have either health issues or are mixed with meat breeds. Does anyone know any breeders in Arizona?
 
DesertChic said:
You definitely do NOT want to use the Epsom salt flush on chicks. They could become horribly dehydrated and even die. Their systems are too young and delicate.

Probiotics in the water is the best thing I've found to prevent and/or treat pasty butt in chicks. I buy those little packets of chick vitamins and probiotics at the feed store and add both to their water.
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Thank you, DesertChic. I'll check into that. They seem to be doing okay eating, drinking and scampering around. They're comical, though, since some of them stand there and start staggering like an old drunk then finally take a nap. Some of them fall asleep with their faces flat in the feeder.
 
Bobby Basham said:
Well, in the spirit of procrastination, I didn't do everything that was supposed to be done, and let all the supplies set there. When the Post Office called this morning (BABIES ARRIVED--YAY!), I still hadn't set up a brooder because I couldn't find the right box. There was a box out in the garage though about 4 feet tall and about 20" square that held 5 galvanized cans, so just laid the box on its side and cut out one long side.

Not making it to the feed store, went to ACE Hardware where they had everything I needed.

As far as the heat lamp goes, I bought a 125-watt incandescent infrared bulb and typical clamp lamp, which seems to work great. They didn't have any red ones in that wattage.

It was only a 15-minute drive to the post office, and had the heater cranking on the drive back home, but they got to screeching and cut back on the heat. They sat out in the truck (in the shade and not hot today) for over an hour while I threw a brooder together.

Thanks for the advice on going lower wattage. Tripping circuit breakers and electrical fires scare me. I don't know the exact temperature, since they are just all over the place and don't seem to have a preference where to hang out.

I see a few of them snuggling together (only when they're sleeping), but when they're awake, there's no particular spot for them.

Right now, they are in a Jack&Jill bathroom, and just quietly chirping away. I've been checking on them about every 10 minutes for the last 6 hours for any heat issues or abnormal behavior. There is one that seemed to have pasty butt so I took it to the sink and gently cleaned it. I still see it trying to pick back there on occasion, so maybe it wasn't cleaned good enough.

The lower wattage seems to be working. They've been quietly chirping away and eating, and the only loud squawk in when one steps on another's head or back LOL! They have NO manners.

OH....I put a little radio in there so they can listen to the 24/7 Classical station at very low volume. I heard they like Classical and NPR radio! --BB
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Pasty butt happens more often when the chicks are too hot. Not saying yours were too hot, but it's worth keeping an eye on that.
 
Bobby Basham said:
Thank you, DesertChic. I'll check into that. They seem to be doing okay eating, drinking and scampering around. They're comical, though, since some of them stand there and start staggering like an old drunk then finally take a nap. Some of them fall asleep with their faces flat in the feeder.
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I see that you are already enjoying watching your chicken tv! :lau
 
MagicChicken said:
Pasty butt happens more often when the chicks are too hot. Not saying yours were too hot, but it's worth keeping an eye on that.
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They were from My Pet Chicken and no telling what they went through to get here when shipped on Nov. 13th. They are in Connecticut, but I think these chicks were shipped from Ohio. They say they have their own breeders they deal with.

The butt issue was already there but I didn't notice until about an hour later. Things look normal now and don't see any of the others picking at it.

They seem to be okay with some of them sleeping in pairs or trios, while the rest are running around eating and drinking. I haven't heard a loud chirp in hours, so they seem to be comfortable.
 
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