Does Apple Cider Vinegar Prevent Pasty Butt in Chicks?

[cabincrazyone]

Quote:
I've read the ACV threads and agree with you completely.

 

[nanawendy]

I've got 4 little peeps and a broody mama that agrees w/ Beekissed.

I have NEVER had a broody hatched peep that had a pasty butt.

 

[cabincrazyone]

Fascinating about chicks raised by a broody .... That's two of you .... it just shows that mama knows best.

 

[speckledhen]

Broody babies and really, any hatched here, never get pasty butt. The ACV does seem to help with it if I get any that were shipped, say from the feed store, but that is a rare thing since I don't want anymore hatchery birds.

Broody babies that are out and about with mom at an early age don't get cocci, either.

 

[Casey76]

Pasting up can be caused by the chicks getting chilled.

I've noticed that for me, it is always the chicks I bought at the feed store which were prone to pasting up, but chicks I hatched myself were rarely effected.

 

[CluckCluck18]

And the opposite for me....chicks I hatched all had it and 2 died. Chicks shipped from MPC are fine?

 

[robcam817]

Does it hurt to continue putting electrolytes in their water? I drink them everyday and it doesn't seem to harm me...;-)

And does it hurt to continue the medicated feed into adulthood? Just like to be proactive where possible.

 

[Blooie]

WELCOME TO BYC - where the people are smart but the chickens can still stump us because they’re even smarter!

This is an old, old thread, but since you found it and asked the questions, you deserve an answer. The previous comments to this thread are basically my own sentiments as well, for the most part. I don’t use ACV. Oh, I did when I first started raising chickens, and I was so careful to make sure they always got it. Then I ran out of it and kept forgetting to pick up more. Can you guess what happened to my chickens? Absolutely nothing. They were just as healthy - shining feathers against the green grass in the yard, laying well, and good body weights. They were active and strong and there was no difference in anything about them, from their overall health to the egg quality and no internal parasites, either. Well, what do you know? Cha-ching! Time and money saved!

I was blessed, early in my chicken journey, to have @Beekissed as my mentor. She took a neurotic, panicked chick-hoverer and turned her into a common sense, no fol-de-rol chicken owner. So how do I prevent pasty butt in chicks? Exactly like Mother Nature and a broody hen does. I use a heating pad cave for their heat source - Mama Heating Pad - and it is as close to a broody hen as humanly possible. They are brooded outdoors, even when our springtime temps are in the twenties, dropping into the teens, on the same dirt they’ll be on for the rest of their lives. They have a warm, dark place for even, gentle warmth, for security if they get spooked, and a soft place to snuggle under at night. They sleep all night through and wake up with the dawn, ready to continue learning their environment and how to be chickens. Now, I have NO scientific evidence to back my theory, but I think that just like their feather buds and their size, their little digestive systems are also immature. They weren’t hatched to live under glaring lights and to eat 24/7, but in a box what alternative do they have? If they get scared there is no comforting hiding spot - no Mama to protect them and then tell them it’s all clear. So let’s combine temperatures that are, in reality, too warm for them with gorging 24/7, no solid sleep pattern, and no relief from stress and what is the result? Pasty butt. Broody hen raised chicks don’t get it, so why do brooder raised chicks have it so often?

As for all the -otics and -lytes we’re told to add to their water, my question is “why”? Chicks aren’t healthy unless all their little systems are already perfectly balanced. So why do we add extra this and a dab of that to their water and risk throwing that balance off with too much of a good thing? I don’t give my grandkids gallon jugs of Gatoraid or Pediolyte to KEEP them from getting sick - I give them a little of it WHEN they are sick and/or dehydrated. It’s no different than all these additives we are told to put in chicks’ water. They are for corrective action, not preventative action. Even the backs of most of these products specifically state that they are for temporary, not long term, use in ill, injured or stressed birds. They also state clearly that clean, fresh, plain water should be available at the same time. I have nothing against these products. They certainly have saved more than one chicken that was recovering from something or overstressed, but for everyday use? And dosing the entire flock when only one bird has an issue seems silly to me. If a bird is bad enough off to need those products, then it should have been isolated anyway, with its own food and water supply. Cha-ching! More time and money saved.

Medicated food is for chicks, as a coccidiosis preventative. I’m not even sure you can find an adult formula with Amprolium in it. Many people feed it until the chicks are over 5 weeks old or so, then switch to regular food, but always have Corrid on hand if they need it. Me, I skip all that gender/age food stuff. My chicks get one small bag of Chick Starter, only because the smaller crumbles are easier for them to learn to eat. After that they are fed what the rest of my flock gets - All Flock or Grower, whichever my feed store has in stock or whichever one has the best freshness date. I have total integration with the flock - roosters, layers, chicks of assorted ages, and freeloaders - by the time the chicks are 4 weeks old, and they won’t stay out of each other’s food pans anyway. A small separate container of oyster shells for the layers and we’re golden. Cha-ching! Time and money saved.

Well, there ya have it. My feeling is that if a two pound hen can successfully raise a brood with no pasty butt despite no books, no web pages (although they are fun and can be informative), no experts, no additives, and no charts, why do we do it so it so differently and think we’re doing it better? You’ve got this! We just make it harder than it has to be sometimes, and I was darn sure the biggest offender! Now I’m just lazy, and I think my flock is happier for it!

Again, welcome to BYC! Don’t let me scare you - people here are pretty used to my wordy posts!

 

[robcam817]

WELCOME TO BYC - where the people are smart but the chickens can still stump us because they’re even smarter!

This is an old, old thread, but since you found it and asked the questions, you deserve an answer. The previous comments to this thread are basically my own sentiments as well, for the most part. I don’t use ACV. Oh, I did when I first started raising chickens, and I was so careful to make sure they always got it. Then I ran out of it and kept forgetting to pick up more. Can you guess what happened to my chickens? Absolutely nothing. They were just as healthy - shining feathers against the green grass in the yard, laying well, and good body weights. They were active and strong and there was no difference in anything about them, from their overall health to the egg quality and no internal parasites, either. Well, what do you know? Cha-ching! Time and money saved!

I was blessed, early in my chicken journey, to have @Beekissed as my mentor. She took a neurotic, panicked chick-hoverer and turned her into a common sense, no fol-de-rol chicken owner. So how do I prevent pasty butt in chicks? Exactly like Mother Nature and a broody hen does. I use a heating pad cave for their heat source - Mama Heating Pad - and it is as close to a broody hen as humanly possible. They are brooded outdoors, even when our springtime temps are in the twenties, dropping into the teens, on the same dirt they’ll be on for the rest of their lives. They have a warm, dark place for even, gentle warmth, for security if they get spooked, and a soft place to snuggle under at night. They sleep all night through and wake up with the dawn, ready to continue learning their environment and how to be chickens. Now, I have NO scientific evidence to back my theory, but I think that just like their feather buds and their size, their little digestive systems are also immature. They weren’t hatched to live under glaring lights and to eat 24/7, but in a box what alternative do they have? If they get scared there is no comforting hiding spot - no Mama to protect them and then tell them it’s all clear. So let’s combine temperatures that are, in reality, too warm for them with gorging 24/7, no solid sleep pattern, and no relief from stress and what is the result? Pasty butt. Broody hen raised chicks don’t get it, so why do brooder raised chicks have it so often?

As for all the -otics and -lytes we’re told to add to their water, my question is “why”? Chicks aren’t healthy unless all their little systems are already perfectly balanced. So why do we add extra this and a dab of that to their water and risk throwing that balance off with too much of a good thing? I don’t give my grandkids gallon jugs of Gatoraid or Pediolyte to KEEP them from getting sick - I give them a little of it WHEN they are sick and/or dehydrated. It’s no different than all these additives we are told to put in chicks’ water. They are for corrective action, not preventative action. Even the backs of most of these products specifically state that they are for temporary, not long term, use in ill, injured or stressed birds. They also state clearly that clean, fresh, plain water should be available at the same time. I have nothing against these products. They certainly have saved more than one chicken that was recovering from something or overstressed, but for everyday use? And dosing the entire flock when only one bird has an issue seems silly to me. If a bird is bad enough off to need those products, then it should have been isolated anyway, with its own food and water supply. Cha-ching! More time and money saved.

Medicated food is for chicks, as a coccidiosis preventative. I’m not even sure you can find an adult formula with Amprolium in it. Many people feed it until the chicks are over 5 weeks old or so, then switch to regular food, but always have Corrid on hand if they need it. Me, I skip all that gender/age food stuff. My chicks get one small bag of Chick Starter, only because the smaller crumbles are easier for them to learn to eat. After that they are fed what the rest of my flock gets - All Flock or Grower, whichever my feed store has in stock or whichever one has the best freshness date. I have total integration with the flock - roosters, layers, chicks of assorted ages, and freeloaders - by the time the chicks are 4 weeks old, and they won’t stay out of each other’s food pans anyway. A small separate container of oyster shells for the layers and we’re golden. Cha-ching! Time and money saved.

Well, there ya have it. My feeling is that if a two pound hen can successfully raise a brood with no pasty butt despite no books, no web pages (although they are fun and can be informative), no experts, no additives, and no charts, why do we do it so it so differently and think we’re doing it better? You’ve got this! We just make it harder than it has to be sometimes, and I was darn sure the biggest offender! Now I’m just lazy, and I think my flock is happier for it!

Again, welcome to BYC! Don’t let me scare you - people here are pretty used to my wordy posts!

Much thx for the quick and very thorough reply. Makes total sense to me. Only other question then I guess is you mentioned you have a separate oyster shell but do you also have a separate grit or don't you use grit? Thanks again very much.

 

[Blooie]

You’re very welcome. Grit and oyster shell are two entirely different things, and while all chickens need grit, only layers need oyster shell.

Grit is ground granite (or small rocks and pebbles they find on their own if they free range) and they ingest it to grind the food in their gizzards, since they have no teeth. You can and should start it with chick sized grit from the time the chicks start eating anything other than chick starter.

Oyster shell is just what it says..the broken up bits of oyster shell and it’s needed to ensure that the layers have an adequate supply to keep their bones strong and their eggshells strong. It is more water soluble and it is eaten by layers to replenish the calcium that egg production strips away. With my first batch of chicks, I waited until I saw my first egg before getting them oyster shell, and that’s a good way to start. Up until then their bodies have enough calcium because they aren’t producing egg shell after egg shell. As my flock expanded, I started feeding just one food to my entire flock with the oyster shell on the side for the layers. Oh, sure, the others nibble from time to time, especially when the container is refilled or refreshed, but they don’t get enough calcium to hurt them and they quickly decide they don’t want it, while the layers will take whatever they need.