I went to a feed store (not my normal one) to get some more chick feed..... they had cages of chicks with some of the WORST pasty butt!!!! I couldn't buy them all, but did get the worst looking four! (I know, SUCKER!) One is an EE, one is a Silkie, the other two are bantams, but not sure what kind. Two of them had it so bad, the "blob" weighed them down so that they were falling over backwards!!! I proptly cleaned them up and put them into an isolated brooder with medicated chick feed and water with small amount of Poly-Vi-Sol. HAD to get to work at that point. Got home from work, EE hasn't moved ALL DAY! Can't get it to eat or drink. (it was actually the best looking of the four this morning) Three little ones, not looking so great, but up and moving. Made sure all were freshly cleaned and dabbed Olive oil on ...... actually saw them nibble a little bit of food. BUT, I haven't seen any of them poop at all!!! If they are constipated, what should I try???? And what can I try to stimulate EE's appetite??? (honestly not holding out much hope on the EE given the listlessness and refusal to eat) I know the answers are probably somewhere in this forum, but REALLY need help quick!! Edited to try to add pics......problems with upload.
i've read on other threads that molasses works as a mild laxative in chickens...though i don't know if you want to try that with such young chicks. plain yogurt for digestion? and sugar water might give them some energy. hope they make it - they certainly have a good mother!
I honestly don't know why I do things like this!! I have always been a sucker for the defenseless!!! I'm trying not to get my hope up too high, but I can't help it!!
Quote:I'm betting you do things like this because you're a good person who CARES about living things. I do animal rescue, helping with puppy mill seizures, horse cruelty cases, abandonment and neglect. I can't tell you how many times I've held a sick or dying dog, cat or horse through the wee hours of the night and wondered why I do it to myself. But after some time passes, and you look back, you feel good about what you did whether the outcome is life or death. Because you know you made a difference, whether for an hour, a day, or a lifetime. I love the quote "Saving one animal won't change the world...but it will change the world for that one animal." Be proud. Vickie
I'm a newbie, but mine r about 9 weeks old now. I had one sickly little peep and I gave save a chick in the water and used that water to make mush from the crumbles and just kept offering it about every 1-2 hrs and the chickie got better! Don't know if it's a miracle solution, but i know that the save a chick stuff does give them a boost when they need it. Glad u rescued them!
I'm a newbie myself but the first day I got my chicks they weren't eating much. Then I started catching some grasshoppers outside and feeding it to them and it really seemed to stimulate their appetite. They didn't eat much chick feed but were eating plenty of grasshoppers. Now they don't have a problem eating anything including the chick feed. I think the movement of the bugs really stimulates their natural instinct to forage for food. Just my 2 cents.
Quote:you can try hard boiled egg crumbled, Sav-A-Chik in their water (it is like Gatorade for Chicks) OR add sugar to their water, Vasiline on their butts... hope someone else chimes in too.
Poly-vi-sol is good, but regular electrolytes are better. You can get them from the feed store, just read the directions for dillution carefully. It also might not hurt to wet their food for them to eat it. The suggestion for egg yolk is good; for the little EE, you might make a real liquid gruel out of it and run it along her beak to see if she'll eat some. Baby applesauce is reported to have a good effect on moving things along the digestive track of chicks. I use a Q-tip dipped in warm water to soften the dingle-berries (the blobs on their rears) and then put some mild lotion or neosporin (no "caines") on sore bottoms. Remember that pasty-butt can be caused by stress and they'll be stressed for a bit after you get them home. The electrolytes can help. There are those who hesitate, and I'm one, to start giving yogurt to very young chicks. I didn't give mine any until they were four weeks old. Have you considered registering a complaint against the store that's selling these babies? Many towns and cities have ordinances against cruelty and inappropriate care and neglect is considered by some as cruelty. At the very least you could go in and speak to the manager. Maybe they don't know how to clean pasty butt. Good luck and thanks for taking the time with these babies. Mary