How to Avoid Pasty Butt, Is Humidity a Factor?

[BigBlueHen53]

I've had to clean pasty bumms on broody raised chicks and think it's more complicated than folks realize... I have hatched hundreds of chicks, all raised in the same manners... and only a few get the pasty butt... So I consider it an individual issue with something more at play and simply pay attention, treat as needed...

Hope your little's arrive loud and active!

ETA: it can likely be caused from ANY stress factor and then only to the ones who deal less well.

Thanks, @EggSighted4Life . Every one of our chicks got it last spring, so I hoped it was something we could control.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@ChickenCanoe, I make my own yogurt, do you think adding some to their water would suffice as a probiotic?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I don't know what causes pasty butt or how to prevent it. I agree it practically never happens with chicks raised by a broody. I've never seen it. I practically never see it in chicks I hatch in an incubator. I don't recall ever seeing it but I'm old and may have forgotten an occurrence. Those incubator chicks often stay in the incubator as long as chicks that are hatched at a hatchery and mailed to me take to get here. Even in chicks mailed to me I hardly ever see it but have a few times.

I think it has something to do with stress but I don't know what specific stress. My suggestions are to have the brooder up and running so it is ready to go as soon as you return from the post office. Go get them as soon as the post office calls, don't mess around waiting for another cup of coffee. Dip their beaks in water as soon as you put them in the brooder to teach then to drink and offer chick feed.

I don't use anything other than pure water. I don't know if probiotics will help with this but they won't hurt. The brooder I put them in has a wire bottom so they don't have any bedding to eat, yet I've still seen pasty butt a few cases in shipped chicks. I don't think eating bedding is a problem for mine. I give mine probiotics and grit a couple of days after they are in the brooder by taking dirt from the main run where the adults are, but that's not until they've been in the brooder a couple of days. If they are going to have pasty butt it will have already shown up.

Good luck!

Thanks, @Ridgerunner. Last year's chicks were in transit three days. That's certainly a stress! And yes, I sent my teenager 30 miles to grab them from the PO as soon as we knew they were there, brought them in, and put them in the brooder which had been set up about 48 hours. Stuck their beaks in the water and feed immediately. It was our first time with day-olds and I was a basket case, lol. Now I know how a nervous FATHER feels; much easier being the mom! Hoping the second time will be less stressful and more fun.

 

[azygous]

You've sure received a rich response. I'll just chime in with how I deal with new chicks.

I've been getting my chicks from TSC, and I am called when they first arrive fresh from the post office. Even still, last April, I had to treat all six chicks with warm sugar water and Poultry Nutri-drench to combat serious shipping stress. The chicks are only hours from the hatchery so they are only in transit from four to 24 hours, depending when they ship. Yet, this time all chicks, purchase a week apart, all were prostrate with exhaustion when I got them home.

After the chicks stabilize, I give the them fermented Flock Raiser crumbles. I don't bother with chick starter since it's practically identical to Flock Raiser. The chicks take to the fermented feed immediately and it has all sorts of natural probiotics.

After 24 hours under observation indoors, they go outside to the enclosed run where I have their heating pad system set up in a safe pen where they will grow up in proximity to the adult flock. The temps range from low 30s at night to 50s and 60s during the day. The heating pad provides direct contact warming so overheating is never an issue. The broad temperature spread outdoors provides early cold hardening, and the chicks raised this way usually wean themselves off heat at night by age five weeks, by age three weeks during the day. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors.71995/

Pasty butt has not occurred since I've been brooding in this manner.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

@ChickenCanoe, I make my own yogurt, do you think adding some to their water would suffice as a probiotic?

It certainly can't hurt. Though I would consider mixing it with feed and wetting or fermenting the feed making it more of an oatmeal consistency. There will be acidophilus in it.
The Gro2Max I use comes in 3.5 oz. (100 gm) packages. It can be used in water or feed but I find used in water it goes farther and every chicken gets some. Lett sit after mixing for about 15 minutes or more so it can populate the water. It can also be used in automatic water systems. In my opinion the powder would be harder to properly mix with feed.
It needs to be kept between 33F and 103F to prevent killing the live cultures so I either keep at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
It contains bacillus subtillis, lactobacillus acidophilus, pediococcus acidilactici, pediococcus pentosaceus and saccharomyces cerevisiae. All things found in the gut of healthy chickens. It was developed in Egypt specifically for chickens and is now marketed around the world.
The first time I brooded a large number of chicks at once as and adult, I had 75 chicks in an Ohio brooder and the downside of them is that it is hard to access chicks under it to check them. I lost 3 chicks to pasted vent that time around and started looking for other remedies.

 

[aart]

I've only had a few pasty butts, rarely have to clean them twice.
My best advice is don't give them a bunch of fancy(weird) stuff.
If giving anything other than plain fresh water and a good chick crumble,
follow @ChickenCanoe's recommendations.

They'll be in the house for the first couple of weeks, but it's a cold house..... I guess I'm wondering what temps you keep them at.

They only need one warm spot, cool ambient temps are best, IMO.
A thermometer is a good tool, but don't count on it too much, go by behaviors.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, @azygous, @ChickenCanoe and @aart for your latest responses. I will be back tomorrow evening to respond, I appreciate you all very much!

 

[chrissynemetz]

I've switched to using a 'mama heating pad' in my brooder. It's so much easier than heat lamps. And no pasty butt

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You've sure received a rich response. I'll just chime in with how I deal with new chicks.

I've been getting my chicks from TSC, and I am called when they first arrive fresh from the post office. Even still, last April, I had to treat all six chicks with warm sugar water and Poultry Nutri-drench to combat serious shipping stress. The chicks are only hours from the hatchery so they are only in transit from four to 24 hours, depending when they ship. Yet, this time all chicks, purchase a week apart, all were prostrate with exhaustion when I got them home.

After the chicks stabilize, I give the them fermented Flock Raiser crumbles. I don't bother with chick starter since it's practically identical to Flock Raiser. The chicks take to the fermented feed immediately and it has all sorts of natural probiotics.

After 24 hours under observation indoors, they go outside to the enclosed run where I have their heating pad system set up in a safe pen where they will grow up in proximity to the adult flock. The temps range from low 30s at night to 50s and 60s during the day. The heating pad provides direct contact warming so overheating is never an issue. The broad temperature spread outdoors provides early cold hardening, and the chicks raised this way usually wean themselves off heat at night by age five weeks, by age three weeks during the day. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors.71995/

Pasty butt has not occurred since I've been brooding in this manner.

Thank you, @azygous, I will definitely look into this. We may have temps down into the teens during their first few weeks, do you think it will be safe to do this at those temps? This sounds very scary to me! <nervous mom!>

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It certainly can't hurt. Though I would consider mixing it with feed and wetting or fermenting the feed making it more of an oatmeal consistency. There will be acidophilus in it.
The Gro2Max I use comes in 3.5 oz. (100 gm) packages. It can be used in water or feed but I find used in water it goes farther and every chicken gets some. Lett sit after mixing for about 15 minutes or more so it can populate the water. It can also be used in automatic water systems. In my opinion the powder would be harder to properly mix with feed.
It needs to be kept between 33F and 103F to prevent killing the live cultures so I either keep at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
It contains bacillus subtillis, lactobacillus acidophilus, pediococcus acidilactici, pediococcus pentosaceus and saccharomyces cerevisiae. All things found in the gut of healthy chickens. It was developed in Egypt specifically for chickens and is now marketed around the world.
The first time I brooded a large number of chicks at once as and adult, I had 75 chicks in an Ohio brooder and the downside of them is that it is hard to access chicks under it to check them. I lost 3 chicks to pasted vent that time around and started looking for other remedies.

Thanks again, @ChickenCanoe. I will order some Gro2Max, it sounds more complete than my yogurt and since it is specifically formulated for chickens I'll trust it and not take a chance.

A funny thing, today when I told DH that that I thought we should get two plastic tubs, not one, to make it easier for cleaning, he looked very surprised and said he had decided the same thing! Great minds...