Coconut Oil for 2 1/2 week old silkies

[Dontworrybequacky]

Hello all. Through the first two weeks of brooding our little black silkies I have followed your advice on pasty bum with good success. I think that we have that "behind" us now.
Day before yesterday I heard that distress trilling sound and found a chick with distended vent and a stuck poo. I was able to relieve him with a q-tip and olive oil. This was repeated 4 or 5 times and I believe it was 3 or 4 of the 7 chicks. It's so alarming to have a tiny creature in pain.
We tried to analyze what was different for them and there were two possible causes for the constipation. We had moved them onto straw bedding several days earlier and I'm sure that they are ingesting a little of the chaff. Also, from their first days, we were concerned about them getting enough fluid so we fed them a very soupy mash with grit sprinkled on. We refresh that about 4 times a day. As their feet got super fluffed out, they were picking up that mash and I worried that it would be an irritant. I discontinued the "soup" and they seemed perfectly happy to eat dry crumbles although I continued to put grit in a shallow saucer of water.
When some of the chicks were in painful poo distress, I started back on the soupy mash and followed advice I found here to give them chips of coconut oil. I avoided the stress of putting the coconut oil pieces into there mouths and just grated frozen coconut oil onto the mash. They liked it and happily picked out the white stuff from their food. Those two measures seemed to fix them right up. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
My question is this- how long should we continue offering the coconut oil? Might we make them too loose or interfere with their nutrition and digestion by giving coconut oil for an extended period?
Any other suggestions for encouraging them to drink more?
They are doing very well and I could be a hyper-vigilant feather mama, but of course I want the best for them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It won't hurt to give the coconut oil once daily for a few more days.

Offer the wet mash and provide dry crumble in a separate feeder, let them have a choice.

Grit should just be provide free choice (separate bowl or container) not put into the water dish.

How warm is your brooder? Temperature of the warm and cold sides?

Photos of chicks, poop, vents and brooder setup are always welcome.

 

[Dontworrybequacky]

Thanks for your kind response. Yes, we are feeding the wet mash in a saucer in addition to the dry crumble in their feeder. They eat some of the dry but prefer the wet at this stage. I read something about adding a little molasses to their water. Your thoughts? I'm still getting that distress call a little but the chicks have been able to eliminate on their own. To be clear, some of the chicks seem to have experienced no trouble at all. I think that I understand you to say that the chickies really shouldn't have coconut oil beyond a few days after their symptoms of constipation have cleared. That was the clarification I really needed, thank you.
Our brooder set up is a galvanized 2' x 5' x 1' side walls inside our bathroom. We are using a heat lamp off center at one end, although we have heat plates on hand that we are not using. The temperature is reading about 90 at the warmest area and 80 at the adjacent area which is where the chicks choose to bed down. The ambient room temperature is about 75 and the chicks seem to be comfortable and active, using all of their space. We have regulated the height of the lamp mostly by observation of the chicks' use of the space. Once in a while the chicks seem to like to bask in the warmest spot but soon they move on.
The poo looks normal to me, I will try to follow up with photos. The stuck poo was not what I would describe as hard but obviously larger and more formed than chick could pass comfortably.
Thanks again. - Denise

 

[akitafriendakita]

Having dealt with chicks who have suffered from pasty vent for weeks on end, usually it's some sort of probiotic digestion issue where the feed just isn't absorbing well during digestion. It ends up not coming out properly when they do poop and sticks to everything.

If you have a blender, try blending their dry crumble feed to make it similar to a powder - they like eating this and it seems to absorb a little better. Especially small bantams like silkies which have tiny little beaks that can hardly pick up crumble. I find that they waste less feed too if you grind it.

Start on probiotics in their water. Keep cleaning their vent, even if they seem kind of irritated by it because a clogged vent will kill them fast. I make sure to clean one last time before I sleep because that 8ish hour window of you sleeping could be lethal if they do have a clogged vent - so make sure they are as clean as possible before you sleep because you can't watch them!

If the vent becomes inflamed from cleaning [which may happen no matter how gentle you are,] use a q-tip to put Neosporin on the vent to prevent infection.

 

[Dontworrybequacky]

Thanks for your helpful advice. I have been using probiotics in their water but I see that both the packets I bought locally and the ones I purchased from the hatchery are beyond their expiration date. They may be inactive as a result of being a year+ beyond their expiration. I'm also adding ACV to their water.
Fortunately, the pasty bum problems cleared during their first week but I was quite concerned about creating irritation around those teeny, tiny vents. I did apply a little neosporin so I'm glad to know that you've been successfully using it on your babies.
Grinding the crumble in the blender, I will definitely begin doing that at once. True, they manage to pull out and waste a lot of chick starter.
Thank you again. Your help is much appreciated. Gentle hugs to your silkies!

 

[akitafriendakita]

Thanks for your helpful advice. I have been using probiotics in their water but I see that both the packets I bought locally and the ones I purchased from the hatchery are beyond their expiration date. They may be inactive as a result of being a year+ beyond their expiration. I'm also adding ACV to their water.
Fortunately, the pasty bum problems cleared during their first week but I was quite concerned about creating irritation around those teeny, tiny vents. I did apply a little neosporin so I'm glad to know that you've been successfully using it on your babies.
Grinding the crumble in the blender, I will definitely begin doing that at once. True, they manage to pull out and waste a lot of chick starter.
Thank you again. Your help is much appreciated. Gentle hugs to your silkies!

You'll enjoy the powdery food, it's less messy than crumble if they do push it out of their feeders. It sticks to their feet far less and doesn't become a weight issue on their waxy legs like crumble does, I know tiny silkie chicks are kind of scary to clean with their waxy legs/toes and those feathery feet just seem to pick up every piece of crumble and poop at that age. ):

If they seem fine, you can probably stop offering coconut oil. Keep in mind that coconut oil has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial aspects to it that can throw off their digestion again and retrigger pasty butt (yay!) They're at a stage where they basically have no good bacteria in their digestion tract right now as newborn babies, and it's a delicate balance between trying to prevent blockages in their tiny crops, trying to get good bacteria in their intestines so they can actually digest stuff, all that fun stuff. Don't stress too much, it's very normal for them to have painful poops at that age. I've seen it a lot, you're doing great by hovering over them and stopping the vent from getting blocked!

I find it eases my mind to pick them all up and massage their tiny crops once a day for a few seconds just to make sure things are still moving/feel normal. Easy to catch an issue if you do notice one when a huge crop. I had one in my last batch that had swollen crop issues multiple times in the first few weeks, and lots of massages on his crop eventually sorted the chick out and got him more active again.

 

[Dontworrybequacky]

I will begin with the crop massage. I appreciate you for sharing your experience with silkie chicks. It seems that they have their own special needs. I had adult silkies in the distant past and found them to be quite hardy. So they need some special attention to get a good start. I'm fine with that!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

galvanized 2' x 5' x 1' side walls inside our bathroom. We are using a heat lamp off center at one end, although we have heat plates on hand that we are not using. The temperature is reading about 90 at the warmest area and 80 at the adjacent area which is where the chicks choose to bed down. The ambient room temperature is about 75 and the chicks seem to be comfortable and active, using all of their space.

Once in a while the chicks seem to like to bask in the warmest spot but soon they move on.

Crop massages are not necessary unless the crops are not emptying.
You risk pushing up fluids and food, causing aspiration.

Your brooder sounds too hot. They are going on 3wks. Starting at 95F is a "suggestion".
They are inside out of wind and the elements in a controlled environment.
They spend most of their time on the 80F side, so adjust the heated side to 80 and let the rest remain cool.

Being too hot can cause pasty butt.

I've raised chicks outside with just a heating pad in 20F weather. This was 1-2 day old chicks straight from the incubator to outside. While yes, they need heat and protection, too much can be a bad thing.

At 2 1/2 weeks old, if the coop/run is ready and predator secure (hardware cloth run/coop coverings), they can likely go right on outside and you just provide them with a warm spot at nighttime, especially if you are in most of the U.S. that is having 80-100F days.