chick with poopy butt

[bucky52]

i have just gotten days old chicks and having problems with pasty but.i run warm water on their little behinds to clean them.they scream as though i am killing them.no fun for me either as i'am rushing around trying to get ready for work.lol.

 

[biggie]

lol. well seems i got lucky with my chicks they seem to enjoy the warm water on they booty's lol. they close their eyes and stay real still.

 

[Garysbrew]

This site is the best!!! I'm new to raising chickens and one of my three day old chicks had a poopy butt and I didn't know what to do about it. Found my answer here in no time at all, and found I wasn't the only one to have this happen. Thanks everyone for the great answers to my not so unique problem.

 

[hennyandpenny]

what did you do? 2-3 of my chicks have it and they said to pull it off but can i use baby wipes and wipe it off?

 

[Garysbrew]

I just held the chick butt under a slow running stream of warm water and let the poo soften and worked it off. Don't pull it or you could pull out down and tissue from their vent. Just work it between your thumb and fore finger untill it falls away. It takes just a minute.

 

[applegal]

We had pasty butt last weekend. The warm water does soften it up. We actually even used a pair of tweezers to get the last bit. Chicks went right to sleep under brooder light when it was over and they were dry in 15 minutes. The next day my husband shared all the details with his suburban non-chicken folk co-workers much to their shock and disbelief.

 

[QuailQT]

I usually don't have very many that get it with the chicks that I hatch here at my place, but it seems like the chicks that I get from hatcheries are more prone to getting it. I'm thinking that it has to do with the change in feed and/or the stress of the moving/shipping. I just had two yesterday that had it. One worse than the other.

I use a disposable cup and get warm water, then hold a papertowel under the WARM water (but not too warm), then place it on the chicks bum. It softens it pretty fast and it doesn't seem to be as scary for them as holding them under the water. I usually have to re-wet the towel from the cup to get it warmed up again, but then I don't have all those germs in my sink. Kucky!

After the chick was clean, it let out a big poop, so it seems it was just in the nick of time! That can easily kill the chicks if that backs up. You don't want to put it off till later and forget. Poor things go through a rough enough time hatching just to die from a blockage!
I hate to see them with pasty bums at TSC. Most of the employees will take them and clean them up. Thank goodness!

**If you have a chick that keeps getting it, you could CAREFULLY trim the fuzzy around the butt, so that there isn't so much for the poop to build up on.

Good luck in your chicken adventures!

 

[onedoodle3]

When we brought our chicks home, one of them had pasty butt. I got my laptop out and logged on to Backyard Chickens and read what I could real quick. I then went and got the chick, took her into the bathroom, ran about an inch of warm water in the sink, put her in it and took a q-tip and started gently wiping her rear. She LOVED it!!! It only took about 5 minutes and then I put her in a towel and dried her feathers, held her a little bit to let the warmth of my hands warm her up some. I then took her back to the tote and put her under the heat lamp. She started cleaning her feathers and ended up going to sleep. Now when I go in the bedroom to interact with them, I put my hand down into the tote, palm up, with a little food in it. She will come over, climb into my hand and lay down & go to sleep. She did the same to my 8 year old daughter. My daughter was so amazed! My chicks were a week old when I got them last Tuesday. I originally had 6 but one died 2 days later. The other 5 are doing great. The one that had pasty butt is doing great. She has not had any more pasty butt at all!