Chick having problems pooing...

[grasjm36]

I have a blue orpington chick who is now 1 and a half weeks old. I bought her from a private breeder. The next day after I brought her home she was screaming and pushing really hard. I assumed she was constipated? Maybe from changing locations and became dehydrated. So i cleaned her up, put her bum in warm water to help relax the muscles, gave her a little olive oil. She fell asleep in my hand for a bit. I also lubed her behind up a bit. After digesting the oil, things seemed to be moving along better. She was still straining really hard just to get out soft poo. I thought this was strange.

The next couple days I could see that she was very irritated all around her vent. I guessed her skin was irritated from all the straining. She eventually pulled all the tail down and abdomen down out. Her back end is completely bear. Now were back to serious straining. Every time she strains, I feel like she's getting closer to a prolapse. I feel awful!! I read on here to use the rounded end of a pin to help pull out whatever is stuck...she doesn't mind me doing this. It's like its relieving her. BUT all the poo is soft?????

I'm beginning to think there may be an internal problem here? All the other chicks from this hatch seem healthy. So far no chicks have bothered her. I can't really separate her. What else can I do??

 

[dawg53]

I agree that it sounds like an internal problem. The olive oil you gave her shouldve cleared everything out and opened everything up. You might try adding applesauce to her feed or feed it to her directly. Applesauce acts as a mild laxative.
I recently had a week old chick with the same problem and the others started pecking at her rear end, I decided to cull. I figured she wouldnt survive without the others being with her if I seperated her and there would be internal problems as time went on, eventually affecting her laying abilities as well.

 

[Trampledbygeese]

Poor thing! Thank goodness she has you to help care for her.

A few thoughts that may or may not help:

- Is she warm enough all the time? Maybe there is a draft? I know temperature (especially avoiding sudden changes) is vital for managing poop issues during early life like pasty bum. Is it possible that the temperature is colder at night?

- Are you feeding her regular chick feed? Perhaps mixing the feed into a porridge (with water or plane yoghurt) would help. If you go this rout, make certain you mix a new batch at least twice a day, more often is better. Bacteria can grow in moist conditions and/or the food can ferment (which stinks!) in the heat of the brooder.

I was given some chicks once that were orphaned. They had a heck of a time pooping. It was a combination of temperature change early in life with not being able to handle dry food. They just needed that one serious chill to effect them. They are full grown chickens now, but they still take a lot of effort to poop and, if given the chance, they pick up their dry food and put it in their water dish to make a porridge for themselves.

- Is the poo soft or watery? If it is just like liquid, then it could still be constipation - think of water in a stream running around big rocks.

-I would hesitate to give too much apple sauce. Yes, it is good in many cases, but it acts by adding fibre to the diet. Apple sauce is a laxative AND the opposite - due to the high amount of fibre.

I know for humans with similar problems, a high fibre diet can sometimes make the symptoms worse - especially if the primary cause of the digestive symptoms is gone but the swelling of the intestines remain. Can anyone suggest some different foods that could help in this situation? I was thinking boiled egg yolk or plane yoghurt, but I haven't tried these for chicks yet.

- possibly chicken vitamins in the water or even switching to medicated feed in case of infection? Perhaps someone else might be able to tell us more about these?

Wishing you the best and please let us know how she gets on.

 

[rhs7111]

Warm molasses water is an effective chicken laxative, and it works especially well for chicks---better than feeding olive oil. Put one large drop of molasses into a tablespoon of warm water, so that the color of the mixture is a medium caramel. Make the chick drink at least 6-10 sips per day. If you need to dip the chick's beak to make him/her drink, be cautious not to submerge the nostrils, to prevent aspiration. Giving warm molasses water for about 3-4 days usually addresses the problem, but you can do it longer if necessary. Also make sure the butt doesn't get pasted with dried poop (if it does, use warm water to break up the dried mess, and then towel the chick's bottom dry to avoid chills.) A drop of olive or vegetable oil applied to the chick's clean bottom can help soothe the skin irritation resulting from washing, too.

 

[monkey]

I've never used olive oil, but i've heard that feeding them sugar water helps. I guess it's probably about the same as molasses water.

 

[nettiesnest]

I had a similar problem and my chicks were dropping like flies and had to clean crusty butts. Used corid with no luck and couldn't figure out what the issue was

 

[nettiesnest]

I also added boiled eggs for my weak ones which seemed to help.

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[EELover]

Chicks have sucky digestive systems. Giving them plain yogurt will help with that. Plain yogurt has cultures in it to help the digestive system and will help everything work right again. Every time I got a chick with pasty butt or something I use that and it works great. Good luck!

 

[nettiesnest]

I have always heard that yogurt is bad for chicks and chickens....I wanted to try that but the advise seems wishy washy

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[Trampledbygeese]

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I imagine that a lot of commercial yoghurt would be bad as it has a notorious high sugar content. If you can get plain yoghurt that is made the traditional way (like Greek yoghurt for example) I think it would be beneficial as it is full of good bacteria.

My neighbour is of the opinion that chicks that are not hen-raised tend to have digestive issues because they aren't exposed to hen poop which is full of different bacteria that help digest food. I'm more of the temperature is the biggest influence on chick digestion school of thought. But I my neighbour has been at this a lot longer than me, so the idea of feeding yoghurt for beneficial bacteria might be a good idea.