Chronic pasty butt

[Sheri460]

I have 6 roughly 10-12 day old chicks (black australorp, barred rock, RIR) and all are doing great but the tiniest one I've had to clean her pasty butt daily since day 4. She's very active, eats and drinks a lot and doesn't seem to have any other obvious issues. I have a Brinsea EcoGlow as their heat source and they're in our house that's between 68-70 degrees. I turn a heat lamp on in the morning for about 20 minutes (the temp in their brooder goes down to 60ish at night) and they seem to like it, and then it's off the rest of the day. They eat, sleep, poop, play, repeat all day long. They go back under the EcoGlow for a few minutes here and there and then they're back out in the rest of their space playing, etc. I started them on Dumor Organic Chick Starter/Grower. I put 1 tsp of Braggs ACV in their 1 quart waterer. I change the water 2-3 times a day and at one of those I leave it as plain water. They have paper towels over their pine shavings and I clean up their messes as they happen (I homeschool and work from home, so I have the ability to keep it super clean, so why noy?

To help the baby chick (her name is Tiny Therese) with the chronic pasty butt, I've put out finely mashed scrambled eggs and little tray of cornmeal each day for the last few days, but NO ONE is interested in either. They go over to it and then turn away and go straight to their chick feed. After cleaning her pasty butt, I've been putting a q-tip of olive oil under her vent, but it hasn't seemed to help at all (I'm 6 straight days into cleaning her one or twice a day), last night I switched to a dab of Vaseline to see if that would help, but didn't seem to make a different, still pasty butt this morning. I keep hearing ACV, scrambled egg, and some cornmeal along with the vaseline or olive oil after cleaning are all the answer, but I can't seem to get her to eat the egg or cornmeal. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance!

 

[vintage]

When I first introduced scrambled eggs, my chicks weren't interested until I sprinkled their feed over it. It quickly turned into a feeding frenzy! I don't know if you tried that.

 

[fuzzyfarmer]

When I first introduced scrambled eggs, my chicks weren't interested until I sprinkled their feed over it. It quickly turned into a feeding frenzy! I don't know if you tried that.

I had a similar experience with the Greek yogurt people recommended for poopy butt - no interest in the yogurt (a couple pecked it and didn't like how it stuck to their beak) until I mixed their chick feed into it. Then they went mad for it.

I think the Greek yogurt may have helped with chronic poopy butt in my chicks. I used chobani brand (plain, unsweetened), for what that's worth, because that's the brand that agrees best with my stomach

 

[Sheri460]

Thank you to those who shared their advice. Oddly enough, I think I've realized it isn't traditional pasty butt that is the issue here. After cleaning her vent for 7 days straight I realized that she has a small growth just under her vent (not her belly button) and when she poops it was getting stuck on that growth instead of falling to the ground. Now that she's a little (and I do mean a little) bit bigger, she seems to be able to push the poop out enough that it's going over the growth and onto the ground. Many times I've sat and watched her until she pooped just to see what was going on and to make sure she was indeed pooping. I haven't messed with her since, because I know me having to pick her up multiple times a day for a week was stressing her out. So now I just visual check her bottom throughout the day and sometimes a piece is hanging but an hour or so later it has fallen off. So no more clogging vent issues, but the small growth is still there. Has anyone had a similar issue?

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I have 6 roughly 10-12 day old chicks (black australorp, barred rock, RIR) and all are doing great but the tiniest one I've had to clean her pasty butt daily since day 4. She's very active, eats and drinks a lot and doesn't seem to have any other obvious issues. I have a Brinsea EcoGlow as their heat source and they're in our house that's between 68-70 degrees. I turn a heat lamp on in the morning for about 20 minutes (the temp in their brooder goes down to 60ish at night) and they seem to like it, and then it's off the rest of the day. They eat, sleep, poop, play, repeat all day long. They go back under the EcoGlow for a few minutes here and there and then they're back out in the rest of their space playing, etc. I started them on Dumor Organic Chick Starter/Grower. I put 1 tsp of Braggs ACV in their 1 quart waterer. I change the water 2-3 times a day and at one of those I leave it as plain water. They have paper towels over their pine shavings and I clean up their messes as they happen (I homeschool and work from home, so I have the ability to keep it super clean, so why noy?

To help the baby chick (her name is Tiny Therese) with the chronic pasty butt, I've put out finely mashed scrambled eggs and little tray of cornmeal each day for the last few days, but NO ONE is interested in either. They go over to it and then turn away and go straight to their chick feed. After cleaning her pasty butt, I've been putting a q-tip of olive oil under her vent, but it hasn't seemed to help at all (I'm 6 straight days into cleaning her one or twice a day), last night I switched to a dab of Vaseline to see if that would help, but didn't seem to make a different, still pasty butt this morning. I keep hearing ACV, scrambled egg, and some cornmeal along with the vaseline or olive oil after cleaning are all the answer, but I can't seem to get her to eat the egg or cornmeal. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance!

If you’re giving them things other than chick feed, you should also be giving them grit in their brooder.

 

[Sheri460]

Thanks! They have chick grit from Scratch & Peck feeds. I've changed their food to Organic Chick Starter from Scratch & Peck feeds (https://www.scratchandpeck.com/) I kept up with the Bragg's ACV and organic herbs from Scratch & Peck sprinkled on their food morning and night and everyone is doing well. Pasty butt girl is still the tiniest by far, but no more pasty butt thankfully!

 

[fuzzyfarmer]

Thanks! They have chick grit from Scratch & Peck feeds. I've changed their food to Organic Chick Starter from Scratch & Peck feeds (https://www.scratchandpeck.com/) I kept up with the Bragg's ACV and organic herbs from Scratch & Peck sprinkled on their food morning and night and everyone is doing well. Pasty butt girl is still the tiniest by far, but no more pasty butt thankfully!

My chronic pasty butt chick was also the smallest! I worried about her the first couple days because she crammed herself in the hottest corner of the brooder and slept so much. She's still smaller than the others, but also the friendliest. She steps up onto my arm like a parrot.

 

[Davethebirdman]

I have 6 roughly 10-12 day old chicks (black australorp, barred rock, RIR) and all are doing great but the tiniest one I've had to clean her pasty butt daily since day 4. She's very active, eats and drinks a lot and doesn't seem to have any other obvious issues. I have a Brinsea EcoGlow as their heat source and they're in our house that's between 68-70 degrees. I turn a heat lamp on in the morning for about 20 minutes (the temp in their brooder goes down to 60ish at night) and they seem to like it, and then it's off the rest of the day. They eat, sleep, poop, play, repeat all day long. They go back under the EcoGlow for a few minutes here and there and then they're back out in the rest of their space playing, etc. I started them on Dumor Organic Chick Starter/Grower. I put 1 tsp of Braggs ACV in their 1 quart waterer. I change the water 2-3 times a day and at one of those I leave it as plain water. They have paper towels over their pine shavings and I clean up their messes as they happen (I homeschool and work from home, so I have the ability to keep it super clean, so why noy?

To help the baby chick (her name is Tiny Therese) with the chronic pasty butt, I've put out finely mashed scrambled eggs and little tray of cornmeal each day for the last few days, but NO ONE is interested in either. They go over to it and then turn away and go straight to their chick feed. After cleaning her pasty butt, I've been putting a q-tip of olive oil under her vent, but it hasn't seemed to help at all (I'm 6 straight days into cleaning her one or twice a day), last night I switched to a dab of Vaseline to see if that would help, but didn't seem to make a different, still pasty butt this morning. I keep hearing ACV, scrambled egg, and some cornmeal along with the vaseline or olive oil after cleaning are all the answer, but I can't seem to get her to eat the egg or cornmeal. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance!

Liquid vitamins in the water. Intestinal issues can be related to lots of stuff. My vitamins for a month always turn my chicks into puffs of health and vitality.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thank you to those who shared their advice. Oddly enough, I think I've realized it isn't traditional pasty butt that is the issue here. After cleaning her vent for 7 days straight I realized that she has a small growth just under her vent (not her belly button) and when she poops it was getting stuck on that growth instead of falling to the ground. Now that she's a little (and I do mean a little) bit bigger, she seems to be able to push the poop out enough that it's going over the growth and onto the ground. Many times I've sat and watched her until she pooped just to see what was going on and to make sure she was indeed pooping. I haven't messed with her since, because I know me having to pick her up multiple times a day for a week was stressing her out. So now I just visual check her bottom throughout the day and sometimes a piece is hanging but an hour or so later it has fallen off. So no more clogging vent issues, but the small growth is still there. Has anyone had a similar issue?

Could you maybe get someone to help you get a picture?

 

[Faraz1]

Thank you to those who shared their advice. Oddly enough, I think I've realized it isn't traditional pasty butt that is the issue here. After cleaning her vent for 7 days straight I realized that she has a small growth just under her vent (not her belly button) and when she poops it was getting stuck on that growth instead of falling to the ground. Now that she's a little (and I do mean a little) bit bigger, she seems to be able to push the poop out enough that it's going over the growth and onto the ground. Many times I've sat and watched her until she pooped just to see what was going on and to make sure she was indeed pooping. I haven't messed with her since, because I know me having to pick her up multiple times a day for a week was stressing her out. So now I just visual check her bottom throughout the day and sometimes a piece is hanging but an hour or so later it has fallen off. So no more clogging vent issues, but the small growth is still there. Has anyone had a similar issue?

I seem to be having a similar issue, i have created a thread here with pictures: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pasty-butt-or-something-else.1491943/

Can you please take a look to see if your chick had the same problem. Mine is also an RIR chick so it might be a birth defect like yours.