Chicks have messy butts!! Help!

[Juno's Chicks]

My darling chicks came today!!!! Ordered 10 plus 1 free and even then ended up with 13 total!

One quick question....

Some of the chicks have really messy bottoms. I've read of pasty butt, it just seems like more diarrhea... Everyone is eating and drinking and running around.

Anything to worry about? Anything to do??

Thanks!

 

[petejd]

You need to get this(pasty butt) taken care of. Get a bowl of tepid water and soak their butt in the water until it loosens up. You might need to rub the poo to get it to come off. Dry off chick and put either olive oil or vaseline(sp) on the butt. Keep your eye open for more of the same from the same chicks. The chick will raie cane, but be patient. I just did this about 15 minutes ago. Hope this helps.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Stress.

Just clean them, as needed. You don't want their vents to "glue" shut, of course.

Do everything as per normal and they'll likely straighten out relatively quickly.

 

[CrestedGirl]

Fred's Hens :

Stress.

Just clean them, as needed. You don't want their vents to "glue" shut, of course.

Do everything as per normal and they'll likely straighten out relatively quickly.

x2​

 

[SteveBaz]

There skin is so thin and fragile down there you could hurt them. Moist rag and soak it and if it doesn't come off easy leave it. The stuff turns into concrete and doesn't come off easy at all.

 

[dolly85]

The only time I've had that happen is if the brooder is too warm, or if the chicks were sent in the summer and they were over heated while shipping. To clean it up I dump some dawn dish soap on their behinds and gently massage it into their bottoms under warm running water. The poop comes off pretty quickly this way and it doesn't hurt the babies by pulling.

 

[curious1969]

Quote:
I might have to try that next time this happens. I have been fortunate to not have this problem in quite a while, but when it is present it can be a real trial to get them clean.

 

[partsRheavy]

Give them a bit of oatmeal in addition to chick starter.

I've been raising my 56 young 'uns a bit under-temperature and haven't had to snoop around anyone's butt...

They're Black Giants and Australorps so they are slow-growing but cold-tolerant.

The little 2-week olds are still indoors in boxes with old clothes on top. We're having a few 35-40-degree nights so the little ones are staying inside.

However the 4-week olds are outdoors in a cage with a 120-W brooder lamp.

 

[rpchris]

One of my five had this problem. It took 4 or 5 days of butt-patrol to get her over it. I was cleaning her off each morning and evening.

You just need to be sure the vent doesn't get plugged. If you gently blow on the chick's rear you should see the vent pucker and unpucker. It sounds weird I know, welcome to animal husbandry.

If the vent is covered with poo, then you need to clean it off immediately with a wet cloth or dunking the rear end in warm water to loose it. I even used a wet Q-tip. Just don't try to pull it off. Be sure to dry the chick off when you're done.

 

[chittyn]

just keep their vents clean it should go away soon hopefully