How often do you check for pasty butt?

[huntersmoon]

I have a batch of chicks and wonder how often you all check them for pasty butt? I do have other adult chickens, this is the fourth batch of chicks we've raised.

We go check on them 2-3 times a day - they are in a metal trough in our shop, with heat lamp clamped to one end. (They are nicely active, running around as well as resting, and the trough is five feet long, so I don't think it's an issue of the heat causing the pasty butt.)

Is twice a day enough? My son noticed one had a clump of poop / pasty butt this morning as he was leaving, and I got to it about 8-9 hours later when I got home.

I guess I'm wondering if 8-9 hours was so long that it might have made this fatal?

It wasn't necessarily covering the vent, I think I recall checking when i was cleaning her off but now that I'm worrying about her I'm doubting myself. Anyway she pooped after I set her back in there, and she is eating and alert. But she's smaller than the others (She's a black jersey giant, the others are different breeds) and seems a bit weak - although my son says she has seemed fairly mellow the whole time we've had her (she's his favorite so he notices).

I'm not sure if that length of time was too long or if I'm just worrying now that I've noticed her seeming more vulnerable than the others.

Thanks
Shannon

 

[PolergirlOH]

I hope she will be just fine!!!

I’m not a chick expert nor a pasty butt expert by any means but when one of mine got a short lived case I checked her 2x per day: morning and late afternoon.

 

[imnukensc]

I check a couple times per day up until about 2 weeks old and clean it as soon as I see it. Never had to clean a single chick more than twice.

 

[mosander]

I just started 26 Isa Browns (hatchery) and 9 silkie/silkie crosses (home incubator) together. The IBs had the most pasty butt, none of the silkies. I watch the chicks but put all in a bucket when cleaning the cage (every 2 days now). As you return each chick to the cage, check the butt. Warm water/clip it off taking care not to damage the vent. IBs are picking the others tail feathers (at 8 days). Using blue dye and Vick's vapor rub. Offending chicks hate the smell and taste of VVR! Using the heat plates instead of a lamp. Chicks are divided into 2 camps. My real preference is to put eggs under a broody chicken. Have several who are excellent brooders. Some brooder hens are idiots. I have been raising chicks for about 4 years. Losses are rare for me. Once fully feathered, chicks adapt to temperature changes very well.

 

[Kessel23]

I look them over everytime I go out by them. So usually more than 5 times a day when I have new chicks. Depending on weather they are brooded inside or out. I do not pick them up to look but I do enjoy sitting and watching them for a little while, I just visually check as they run around and if I spot something odd I pick them up and take a closer look.

 

[huntersmoon]

Thanks for the replies! I went and added some ACV and sugar to the water, and she drank and ran around a little. Still seems a little unsteady on her feet and not as energetic as the others, but better than earlier this evening. Hopefully I'm just being a worrier.

 

[huntersmoon]

The chick is still alive - I picked up some electrolytes and powdered probiotics and put those in her water. I have her with one other chick, and she is much the same. Still not very active and when she gets knocked over she lays on her side for a while before getting up. But she eats, drinks, looks alert though weak. I just got the water additives today so I hope that helps her improve.

 

[huntersmoon]

Well the chick didn't make it, although she was eating and drinking actively the whole time. She was always wobbly on her feet and if she got knocked over, she just laid there seemingly too weak to get up. I had her separated in a plastic bin inside the general trough so she didn't get trampled. She was also half the size of the others, never seeming to grow, so I was hoping she would, but not surprised that she didn't make it.

 

[Stacyoung13]

Well the chick didn't make it, although she was eating and drinking actively the whole time. She was always wobbly on her feet and if she got knocked over, she just laid there seemingly too weak to get up. I had her separated in a plastic bin inside the general trough so she didn't get trampled. She was also half the size of the others, never seeming to grow, so I was hoping she would, but not surprised that she didn't make it.

So sorry I just lost my 6 week old blue partridge silkie, Piper, today. She followed the ducks into their pool. She was out of my sight for 10 minutes. I guess we will have to spoil the others even more.

 

[huntersmoon]

When I went back to the feed store the chick person said that entire "generation" / batch had been infected with some malabsorption virus when they arrived. A second one out of that batch had died and like the first, had not gotten any larger from when I brought them home. So it may be that they were doomed from the beginning, or they were so weakened from their nutrient deficit that the pasty butt took them over. The two new chicks I got to replace them are healthy so far.