having to clean poop off little chick every day

[CharlesnBlue]

have one little chick
that has to cleaned every day because of major poop on its butt

should i just let it be
both me and the chick get stressed

 

[NatJ]

have one little chick
that has to cleaned every day because of major poop on its butt

should i just let it be
both me and the chick get stressed

If the poop blocks the butt, so the chick cannot poop any more, that is a problem. A chick that cannot poop will die.


What kind of brooder setup do you have? What does the chick have to eat and drink?

Messy butts can be caused by the wrong temperature, wrong food, various illnesses or parasites, stress, or various other things. Sometimes you can figure out the cause and fix it, and sometimes you cannot. But if you can fix it, and the chick quits getting messy, that is better for the chick and for you.


Is this the only chick you have? Comparing with other chicks can sometimes help you figure out what is wrong with one specific chick.

 

[CharlesnBlue]

I have 3 in a recondioned dog crate
There are getting water and Purina chick food
It's just this one little chick and not the other two

 

[rosemarythyme]

How hot is it in the brooder? Lowering the temperature (if using a heat lamp) or increasing the amount of cool space they have access to might help.

 

[realsis]

I had a few that I had to continually clean in their first week of life. I added probotics to their water. I use probios from TSC. It firmed up their poo and I had less issues with pasty butt. One chick was particularly bad and the cleaning made her bottom sore and she would chirp when she went poo. I tried to be as gentle as possible. At the second week with the probios I no longer had the issues with any of them anymore. Unfortunately you do have to continue to clean the area because the poop can get hard and block the area and if they can't poop they die. I'd give a probiotic in the water and see if it starts firming up the poo where it's not a problem anymore. Hope this helps. Worked for me .

 

[NatJ]

I have 3 in a recondioned dog crate
There are getting water and Purina chick food
It's just this one little chick and not the other two

That sounds good.

What heat source are you using? How old is the chick?

 

[CharlesnBlue]

3 weeks apx
using a fuzzy bird adj heat brooder

 

[rosemarythyme]

Unusual to still have pasty butt at 3 weeks. Is the brooder sitting somewhere with a higher ambient temperature (i.e. you have a space heater in the room).

If it's just a little poop that's not blocking the vent, I'd leave it alone, or clean less frequently. If it's blocking the vent it does need to be cleared.

 

[NatJ]

Unusual to still have pasty butt at 3 weeks. Is the brooder sitting somewhere with a higher ambient temperature (i.e. you have a space heater in the room).

If it's just a little poop that's not blocking the vent, I'd leave it alone, or clean less frequently. If it's blocking the vent it does need to be cleared.

I agree.

A brooder like that will usually not overheat the chicks, 3 weeks should be well recovered from the stress of shipping, that covers the most obvious few causes of pasty butt. I don't think it sounds like coccidiosis either. Definitely a puzzle here.

I agree that the butt needs cleaning if the vent is getting blocked, otherwise it can be left alone.

 

[MrIgmo]

It sounds dehydrated, watch it for a while and see if it is drinking with the other chicks. They tend to all do the same thing usually. What I do to make sure my chicks don't get dehydrated is I mix a little bit of water in with their crumbles several times a day and they LOVE it. They start chirping happily when they know it's coming and go crazy when I put the bowl back in. They like it more than meal worms. Do just enough so that they can finish all of it.