Here's the scoop on the chicken poop. I spent last evening (4 hours) helping this little chick to poop. Warm baths and simple butt rubbing was not going to do the job. He really have a bad impaction, at least the size of a marble. As his vent opened I was able to gently prod the mass with the rubber tipped end of a bobby pin. I had to loosen the mass and break it up a tiny bit at a time. I also used a small syringe (no needle) and squirted water into the vent. After 30 minutes, he'd strain to poop again. As he was straining and his vent opened, I was able to get some more poop out. I repeated this several times, after each time I let him rest until he looked like he wanted to poop again. As I said, this went on from 6:30 pm until 10:30 pm. I quit when he seemed to have very little left in him. I woke up at 4:30 to check on him and saw that he had pooped on his own at least 3-4 times during the night. This morning I gave him some scrambled egg and had to tip his head in the water for him to drink. He started to perk up and at 8:00 am I put him back in with his "brothers and sisters".
These chicks are from a school project. The 1st/2nd grade incubated 40 eggs and 32 hatched. They will go to a family farm this weekend. However, as I looked in the cage this morning I saw there are two more "pasty butt" chicks.
Perhaps my methods are unconventional, but I am an RN and this is all I could think of to do. I was very gentle and patient with the little guy. There was another chick in the same condition except worse (his impaction was almost the size of his head). He died last evening.
I hope no one is upset with my methods. I think I really helped him.
