- Jul 15, 2009
- 39
- 0
- 22
I already posted about this guy in the "Raising Baby Chicks" subforum a while ago, but he's quite a bit older now, so it seemed like it was time to move over here.
Some background - the chicks are now about 7 weeks old. They are all Polish crested. This particular cockerel has had issues from day one. By the time I got them home it looked like the other chicks had been picking on his wing, enough to draw blood. The wing ended up being fine, but in the process of checking on it, I noticed he had a case of pasty butt. After days of wiping him clean several times a day, I treated him and one other chick for coccidiosis. They both improved (although this guy was never cured) and I put them back in with the other chicks.
A month later, he STILL has pasty butt issues. Can you even call it pasty butt when they're this old? Whatever the problem, it's like the waste isn't making it past his butt. It gets hung up on his feathers. It doesn't build up and block the vent, but it does leave that area quite dirty. He doesn't have any other symptoms of anything. He eats and drinks and runs around and spars with the other cockerels. To my inexperienced eye, his vent looks normal and so does his waste (other than getting hung up on his feathers).
Here's the thing that really stumps me - he hasn't developed a tail. Never even had a hint of one. No evidence that it was pecked off or anything. The other chicks (even the ones I think are hens) have huge tails now. He has NOTHING there. He looks like an Araucana. I could understand the feathers *under* the vent being affected by poo build up, but the tail?
Is it possible that he's malformed? I read somewhere that rumpless Araucanas are missing their last vertebra, which is what causes the lack of a tail. If he's missing a vertebra or two, could that cause his back end to be too sloped to poop without getting it all over himself?
All of the chicks are getting vitamins/electrolytes in their water a few days a week, ACV, and yogurt once a week or so. They are still on medicated chick started. None of them have issues except this one.
Unfortunately, out of the 10 chicks I got, it looks like 8 or 9 of them are roosters, so I will already be getting rid of a lot of them. I wouldn't feel right giving him to someone else to let them deal with it, and I certainly don't want to eat him unless I know what's wrong. So... what's going on? Will it maybe clear up on its own? Does it have a simple, obvious solution? Or is it time to cull?
Some background - the chicks are now about 7 weeks old. They are all Polish crested. This particular cockerel has had issues from day one. By the time I got them home it looked like the other chicks had been picking on his wing, enough to draw blood. The wing ended up being fine, but in the process of checking on it, I noticed he had a case of pasty butt. After days of wiping him clean several times a day, I treated him and one other chick for coccidiosis. They both improved (although this guy was never cured) and I put them back in with the other chicks.
A month later, he STILL has pasty butt issues. Can you even call it pasty butt when they're this old? Whatever the problem, it's like the waste isn't making it past his butt. It gets hung up on his feathers. It doesn't build up and block the vent, but it does leave that area quite dirty. He doesn't have any other symptoms of anything. He eats and drinks and runs around and spars with the other cockerels. To my inexperienced eye, his vent looks normal and so does his waste (other than getting hung up on his feathers).
Here's the thing that really stumps me - he hasn't developed a tail. Never even had a hint of one. No evidence that it was pecked off or anything. The other chicks (even the ones I think are hens) have huge tails now. He has NOTHING there. He looks like an Araucana. I could understand the feathers *under* the vent being affected by poo build up, but the tail?
Is it possible that he's malformed? I read somewhere that rumpless Araucanas are missing their last vertebra, which is what causes the lack of a tail. If he's missing a vertebra or two, could that cause his back end to be too sloped to poop without getting it all over himself?
All of the chicks are getting vitamins/electrolytes in their water a few days a week, ACV, and yogurt once a week or so. They are still on medicated chick started. None of them have issues except this one.
Unfortunately, out of the 10 chicks I got, it looks like 8 or 9 of them are roosters, so I will already be getting rid of a lot of them. I wouldn't feel right giving him to someone else to let them deal with it, and I certainly don't want to eat him unless I know what's wrong. So... what's going on? Will it maybe clear up on its own? Does it have a simple, obvious solution? Or is it time to cull?
