Is It Worth It To Try To Save A Chick With Pasty Butt?

[The Monkey Mama]

OK, I have rinsed their little bottoms carefully w/ warm water [which they greatly protested, poor things!]. I have put vaseline over their bums to protect it.

I sure hope they make it - they seem energetic otherwise.

Thanks for the advice! Thanks also for the hopeful stories of chicks who made it - I'm willing to do whatever I can to help them survive, I just don't want to make them suffer if there isn't much hope. I'm glad to hear that many chicks get through this just fine - that is excellent news!

Kelly

 

[Namaste Mama]

I've had 3 chicks have this and I do just what you did, celan em up dry them with a blow dryer on low (they love this and fall asleep LOL) and they are god to go. I make sure to give the yogurt too, this helps their digestion.

 

[verity]

My baby chick -- an 'only child' had pasty-butt -- I soaked her bottom in warm water and used a soft cloth to dry her -- put Vaseline around the vent and she is a happy, thriving and very bossy 7-week-old pullet --
Unless and animal is obviously suffering I will do most anything to take care of it once it joins our family -- not always a happy ending but I'd feel so bad if I didn't give it a try --

Good luck -- 'pasty-butt' is not a death sentence!

 

[leasmom]

Mine with a pasty butt is now an adult and laying eggs!

 

[The Monkey Mama]

Well, one of the two leghorn chicks died this morning.

It seemed a lot better yesterday, I really thought it was going to be OK.

I'm so sad.

I think this may have just been a bad batch of hatching eggs from poor stock or something - out of 10, 4 hatched, one died almost immediately, 1 was crippled and died a few hours later, and two had pasty butt, now one of them died.

There were Ameraucanas in the incubator that hatched 2 days later and they are all doing fabulously.... they are in the same brooder with the leghorns.

The one surviving leghorn that had pasty butt seems fine this morning, but I'm scared he's gonna die too, because his brother/sister looked fine yesterday and then died over night.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. At least I know I tried to save them.

Kelly

 

[Guinea Goonie]

This is normal for some chicks. Thier fluffy little butts can collect the poo. Sometimes it is so bad you think it is impossible to remove. A trip to the sink, some WARM water, a paper towell and a little elbow grease (along with a YUCK) and the chick is good to go.

Even if you pull a few fluff feathers at least it is cleaned. I try really hard not to break the skin in any way. I have NEVER had a chick that did not survive the poop removal.

Yes, they deserve a chence, their kids and they need thier butt wiped some times.

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

I picked up two SS chicks from the feed store that had pasty butt. The feed store wasn't going to do anything about them, so I bought them to give them the care they needed. After the cleaning, they never looked back, and were the first of the five pullet chicks I bought that week to lay. They are still going strong.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

MonkeyMama, I'm sorry you've had this trouble with pasty-butted chicks. I think it's just been a coincidence, that you've had chicks with other debilitating conditions that also happened to have pasty butts. But many chicks will get pasty butts and after cleaning will be just fine for the rest of their lives.

I think it's always worth the effort to clean up pasty butts and then see how they fare.

Try to keep a closer eye on their bottoms, to catch any pasting early so it's not so difficult to remove. You can carefully pull the paste and trim the fluff, but be gentle. I've heard of folks pulling the vent & intestines out by being too rough.

I've given minced hard-boiled or scrambled egg to weak chicks and had good results. You might try that with chicks who seem to be growing slower than their mates.

Is it true that roughage can help prevent pasty butt? Giving the chicks a tray of dirt to scratch through, or a clump of grass with roots & soil intact? And do the Mama hens prevent pasty butt by pecking off the obstructions? Or do those chicks get enough roughage to keep it from forming?

By the way, my kids think it's funny to watch a chick's vent while it's chirping, it bunches & moves with each cheep. "Mom!" they call excitedly "the chick's butt is talking!"

 

[Akane]

Pasty butt doesn't always mean there's something else wrong with the chicks. I think in those cases it's just that there is something else wrong and it leads to stress and problems that contribute to pasty butt. It's not that the pasty butt is causing the problems. Alot of people have chicks that are completely normal but need daily cleaning for awhile. I had a few japanese bantams with pasty butt and now they are some of my healthiest ones. I've also had a few like you said that never grew and died but none of those got pasty butt. I think you're looking at 2 seperate things and should not assume those with pasty butt are always going to die or have other problems.

 

[KaylalovesTodd]

I had an americauna chick with the same problem she is much much smaller than the other chicks but she is about 3 months old and is doing very very well..
so i would say yes they are worth saving