Lost a chick, pasty butt I think...can you over do yogurt?

[lizrndiver]

I got 40 chicks on Friday (special order via local feed store) and they all made it home fine. They were eating and drinking and poop and sleeping just fine.

Saturday I checked everyone for pasty butt and also to get them used to handling. I found three with pasty butt. I did the warm water trick per all the
wonderful posts on this site. Double check the temp (90-95 degrees). All butts look good at bed time.

Sunday morning, I recheck every butt (hubby thinks I'm crazy).
Two are still pasting up. More reading on BYC. After a good wash, olive oil to the vent area and I make a yogurt and chick starter mash. The chicks go crazy for it!!!
Temp still good. Everyone else looks good.

Midday.....one of the pasty butts is sleeping quite a bit. She does not get up and move around when stepped on. I pick her up and she feels kind of limp.
Her breathing is fast and her eyes are closed. Her vent looks good, a little sparse on fuzz and a bit irritated, but no pasted poop. I try to get her to drink some sugar water. After a few drops on her beak, she starts drinking on her own. Maybe there is hope. I try to get her to eat. No luck. I put here back in the brooder. An hour later she is dead.

It's hard to believe it happens so fast. I know it is normal to loose a few, but I still feel sad.

Could I have done something else? Tonight everyone else looks good. I think the yogurt softened feed really made a difference. Eveyone's poop looks better. They really gobbled it up.

So I made another lid full for tonight ( I am using an old peanut butter jar lid).

Could the chicks get too much yogurt? Is there something else I should use to soften the feed?

Thanks for all your support on this board. It is a wealth of knowledge and reassurance.

Liz

 

[ilovechickens]

I lost my last batch to pasty butt, I don't know if you can over feed yogurt, I would like to try it, probably just a weak chick that couldn't handle the travel.

 

[debilorrah]

You did everything right and the chick did not die from pasty butt. It was a simple failure to thrive. It happens sometimes. For the first week you can expect pasty butt. I have some chicks that never got it and some that were always a mess. You have done everything you needed to do to treat it and the chick did not die from it.

 

[lizrndiver]

Thanks!! I see the other 2 pasty butt girls are doing well. No more pasting so far. Their bottoms seem back to normal (not irritated).

I finally broke down and marked the head of the one with the most trouble with a non-toxic marker. It was getting old trying to sort through all the chicks to check up on her.

Plus I think it is stressful to the chicks when I pick them all up. I'm guessing they will tolerate it more and more each day.

Liz

 

[Qi Chicken]

So sorry you lost your little chick. I have 16 6 day olds and I have checked all their little bottoms many times. 2 had poop on the fuzz (but not on the vent) and I ended up using manicure scissors to cut off a bit fuzz. The wet cloth wasn't having much effect. Just wanted to pass on my condolences. I haven't even had them a week and they seem part of the family! Good luck to you and all the chicks!

 

[fastpat]

About four of my chicks had pasty butt for the first week, mostly the first few days. I think it went away because, 1. I'm only feeding them chick starter food and, 2. I'm not feeding them anything else yet, and 3. they're outgrowing the problem. Personally, my feelings are that since there's no mother hen to care for them, and see them get grit along with other things, I'm not going to be able to feed them like they might get to eat with the hen. So, the best thing is to feed them what I know will work, it's not worth it to me to try "treats", they're too young to appreciate them anyway. I am getting some of them to come up to and climb onto my finger off their perching branch without any kind of food enticement.

I think in this particular case, you simply had a chick that "failed to thrive", that happens in all animals. I ahve a couple of chicks that aren't growing as expected. While they appear healthy, their wing feathers are well behind everybody else's and they're physically half the size of the largest chick now. They're eating and drinking along with everyone, there's no fighting that's keeping them away from the food. Needless to say, I'm keeping an eye on them for any sign of obvious stress, but so far nothing.

 

[Want Less]

So sorry to hear about the little one but glad to hear the others are doing well...

 

[wolftracks]

I find the solution that works best for me when it comes to PB is to grind the starter a little finer in a blender and I always add apple cider vinegar to drinking water.
ACV is great for everything.

 

[cedar post]

If your getting pasty butt need to increase grit intake.