I lost my first chicks today
Two days ago Rural King finally got in some Silkie Chicks, and when I went to get them, I noticed they also had Japanese Mottled chicks. They were so cute I had to get a couple. I saw that about a quarter of the chicks had pasty butt. I specifically bought those as I didn't want them to die. I called the manager and complained that they were doing nothing, and in his words "All you have to do is put oats in the feed, which we do. There is no reason to clean their vents, it will come off on its own." Needless to say, I cleaned their vents, and I thought I got it all. I woke up this morning and both Japanese were dead. One had a HUGE clump of feces on his butt. I just cleaned them yesterday and checked back last night and they were fine. I'm worried it was an illness that could have been prevented but there was no blood in the stool. They don't seem to be too warm, nor too cold. Could a prolonged case of Pasty Butt been the culprit? The chicks were very small, but all of the Japanese in the store were the same size. I don't know if it was just an unlucky pick, or if the rest of them at RK are sick. I want to get two more Japanese to replace the two I lost, but I don't want to put the rest of my flock in jeopordy.
