How I cleaned pasted vents - easy technique - low-stress.

[red hen in the rain]

This is my chicks' second day here, they were hatched on the 9th, ordered from MPC. Picking them up at the PO and getting them settled went very well. Only one dead chick out of 16. Everyone is eating and drinking vigorously. I have Sav-A-Chick in their water and am feeding Purina Start-N-Grow Medicated chick feed. Today I moved them off of newspaper and checked each chick over carefully. Four were pasted shut. I had read about this, now was the time to act.
No toothpicks for me tho, my hands aren't that steady!
Instead, I poured a steel bowl of warm (chick-temperature 103F) water, held the chick lightly in my hand, feet and wings contained in my palm, beak up, vent down and gently lowered its rear in to the water for a full 30 seconds. They seemed to enjoy this, no struggling, one even dozed off. Then i brought the chick out of the water, turned it belly up and wiped the now-softened mass gently with a washcloth wrapped finger. Bingo, there's a little pink vent under that junk! Each chick rewarded me with a massive poop once i set them back under the heat lamp.
Pasting is a common problem and is fatal if not remedied. This vent-cleaning was not difficult to do for me or the chicks, even with bad close-vision and shaky hands. The chicks are all dozing now. I have added a small heavy ceramic tray of local river sand to the brooder, as i have read that pasting can be minimized with grit. Worth a try, and I'll keep my eyes on their behinds.
So far so good!

 

[kimf]

I actually just cleaned the vents of 4 of my 5 new babies. They hatched Sunday (Easter) and arrived Tuesday. All are doing well, but when I held them today I noticed sticky butt. I got all the vents open, but some of the poo is still stuck on the feathers of two. I was concerned about wiping too had or irritating there little bottoms. I will try the soaking method in a bit after they recover from the first round. Thanks for the tip.

 

[whytedragon]

I do the same thing, and it does work like a charm..sometimes it takes a bit of rubbing, but it comes off quite easily!

 

[PeepsAreForMe]

One of my 5 chicks pastes daily. They are almost 2 weeks old. I have soaked her pretty much every day since Saturday, and last night she too rewarded me with big poop on my counter! Poor thing, I felt so bad. If I put grit in their brooder will that help? I try to get it all off her fluff too and worry that that may add to the problem.

 

[Tenmore]

We had 2 that pasted really bad every day after about the 3 day of dipping twice a day I took some scissors to them and trimmed the fuzz way back as short as I could aroundbthe vents.....problem solved.

 

[red hen in the rain]

After day 3, no more pasting. The sand tray in the brooder has been very popular for pecking, scratching and very comical dustbaths, and I believe the ingested grit contributed to the solution of the pasting problem. Their poops are very well formed now and not sticking to the down. I wouldn't be able to trim them with scissors! I admire steady hands tho, seems like a good solution as well. I have also read that a dab of olive oil around the vent prevents sticking and pasting, but i might worry about pecking if the other chicks got a taste of it and liked it. For now, I vote for grit as a solution to pasted vents.

 

[MommaK6]

That's what I did too, only I just ran the warm water over her little hiney. She enjoyed it as well.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Only one of my 15 chicks has pasted one time so far. A wet paper towel got it off that time but soaking is a great idea! As for grit, it's a good idea to provide it either on the side in a dish, in their litter for them to find and eat, or mixed with their food in no more than a 1:25 ratio. I put a scoop of food in and sprinkle grit on like salt, then another layer of food, salt on the grit, etc. Since I started upping the grit a bit the girls' rears stopped threatening to paste up.

 

[Panth]

Whenever my chicks seem to start having problems being pasty, I trim all the baby fuzz away from their vents. No more issues! Solves it every time and much less work then soaking them in water.

 

[stephensc7146]

Another great simple way that I've found is to spray the fecal matter with a spray bottle! The water rarely touches anything but the feces, and after 4-6 !slow! squirts of warm water, simply take a paper towel and pinch the feces right off! Just remember NEVER use a spray bottle that has ever contained any type of chemicals. Dollar tree and other dollar stores have them for super cheap! As many chicks as I have that get pasty butt, Its definitely a time saver