Does all the poop have to be removed...

[chickachee]

from the chick's butt? I can get the area really close to the vent clean. I can see the little vent "working", lol, but I can't get the stuff to the sides of the vent off. My chicks are kind of shivering when I clean them, so I haven't been keeping them from the brooder too long. I do put some Vaseline on the vent and the surrounding area,. Should I just bite the bullet and get all the poop off? I do check them 2-3x a day to make sure they're "clear". Boy, bifocals are sure a pain when trying to do this job!

Thanks,
Sheila

 

[chickmashnoon]

heh, and they do complain a lot at first! It's better if all of it is off, but the main concern is that they are able to poo. the more you get off of them, the less there is there for their next poo to stick to, and it's not real good for that poo to be next to their skin. But if you want to work on it a little bit at a time, you can do that too. Triming the crusties off sometimes helps- it removes the poo and shortens the fluff and then there is less for it to stick to. some people pluck that area, but I think they need that fluff for warmth, and it's gotta hurt to pluck. The few chicks that I have had problems with grew out of it within a few days, so to me it didn't seem worth making 2 bald buts out of 20, and I didn't want them picking at the bald spots either.

Also. sometimes they become prone to poopy butts when they are too warm, so you might lower their temp by a few degrees to see if it helps.