Chick has a protruding vent and pasty butt? Help! *PICS*

[Tomtommom]

I have a chick with similar issues. They all started out the same size, but after a week this one is still very small, the other chicks are much bigger. It's not feathering as fast as the others either. I just cleaned it's crusty butt again and put some vaseline on it. Hope it'll grow out of it... I've never lost a chick or a chicken before, always managed to fix whatever was wrong. Hope to keep my lucky streak going.

 

[Hamster run]

I have a full grown BB Red Bantam that has this going on. She looks pitiful, but seems to be doing fine. It's freaking me and my daughters out. My oldest daughter is 6 and she keeps wanting to "just push it back in". EEEKKKKK!!! I just keep telling her... Don't touch it's butt!!! Lol
Hope she gets better soon!

 

[Indiana Chick]

this thread made feel a lot better i have a baby rooster named gumby who is doing the same i was so worried but thank you

 

[chicklady234]

All I have to say is that make sure that this little guy is getting plenty of water and that you give it medicated food... Also, if you want you can put electrolyte, etc. in their water. This will keep the poor baby healthy. If this is still happening, maybe try to find a chicken vet where you can take her.

 

[Tomtommom]

Mine grew out of it. No medication needed. Just cleaned it's butt often.. It was a physical issue, not an illness.

 

[ediebaggett]

I have been searching and reading for a couple of hours, looking for an answer, have called the two people we know that have chickens, but still haven't found any consistency or answer for the issue we think we have. We're new to chickens so i hope you guys can help! My wife just got 4 chicks last Tuesday and yesterday we noticed one of them, "Oyster," has a swollen vent. It is not what I'm understanding "pasty butt" to be, or at least not completely. She is pooping regularly (minus one stream/squirt of diahrea literally 5 seconds after a healthy poop, which is how/when I noticed the swollen vent), eating and drinking like normal, and has as much or more energy than the others. So yesterday we soaked her rear in warm water for 15 minutes, while my wife massaged her rear. During this Oyster went three times, all normal. Below is a pic of her vent after soaking, and as you can tell right after she pooped. As you can see, it looks very swollen.


It seemed a little beetter last night before we went to bed, but that could have been because she was all dry. This morning we checked her and her vent was still swollen and looked what I would describe as a little crusty. She had a little, not a lot, of a dried Yellow ish crust at the seam of her vent, and it looked like there was a little blood. So we soaked her again and cleaned her with a warm/wet qtip. When she would pulsate her vent, it looked like red irritation inside. There was no running blood at any time, but it looked like her inside had blood red parts (sorry not really sure how to describe it).

From what we have observed, she is not being pecked by any of the chicks, but she does peck or prune her rear herself, mainly after we cleaned her or after she has pooped.

From what I've read, I don't think this is prolapse since she's a 6day old chick; and I don't think it's pasty butt because she's pooping regularly and does not have blockage on the outside. And she has normal energy which further confuses us. But thats as far as I know. We read about people putting prep H or neosporin on them, feeding them a little veggie oil, or baking soda/water, and weve read a little about giving them Corid, but we don't know what is the right thing to do.

So after soaking her this morning, we sectioned off part of the brooder with cardboard, put screen windows and roof so she could see others but not jump over, replaced with new food/water/pine shavings, then I put a little neosporin on her vent and put her back in the brooder.



Our brooder is a big plastic bin inside a wire dog crate; heat lamp creates temp between 90-95, we have been feeding them chick starter (un-medicated), and we have been putting "vital pack" (vitamins and electrolytes) in their water since we got them.
Does anyone here know what the issue is and what we need to do? I know these little guys are fragile so I assume we need to do something sooner than later. ANY help would be much appreciated!!

Thanks for y'all's time!

 

[Tomtommom]

Looks similar to my little chick (who is now a pullet and laying!)

I kept some vaseline on mine, to keep any poo from crusting and just let nature do it's thing. It's really all you can do.

Corid is for coccidosis (bloody poo). It's not needed if your chick just has an 'outie' so to speak. Either it grows out of it, or it dies.. those are the two options. But honestly, it sounds yours will be ok with time.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Glad this thread is still around as it gave me information on a week old chick that has developed what I think must be a herniated vent, I suspicion brought on by pasty butt, which would be constipation. It did not have this when I purchased it at the feed store, but had pasty butt the next day, which I gently cleaned. It then several days later had the protrusion. I wondered if it was an anatomical weakness brought on by straining with constipation.

The PrepH idea is a good one...I cleaned and rinsed the crusty poo off and rinsed the protrusion with Chlorhexiderm. It still looked a bit oozy the next day, so I put it on a round of tetracycline which did seem to help with some of the swelling and ooze. I will apply Prep H after I remove the antibiotics.

I wondered if it would be a time issue. Hopefully it will grow out of it and be a strong hen. Good to hear others have had chickens grow out of it.

Lady of McCamley

 

[ediebaggett]

My little one is 7 months and laying beautifully! Oyster, is also the dominant hen. What we did was take a q-tip and warm water and helped her go potty with cotton balls, dipped in warm water, she was almost constipated. Then we would dry her and cuddle her in a warm towel (out of the dryer) then put a little Neosporin on her, and kept her separate so the other chicks wouldn't peck at her.

Not sure if the prep h, Neosporin, or witch hazel helped, but we did everything we could to try. Although it seemed she was constipated when we were cleaning her , it wasn't an immediate healing when we tried the three above remedies. Maybe they helped, maybe she just grew out of it.

Here she is now sun bathing!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well the little one seems to be growing out of it. I haven't done much more than the three days of antibiotics (I got the flu this week so wasn't up to chick care).

Seems there hasn't been a need as the vent is receding as it grows.

LofMc