petrel
Chats with Chickens
These are my first chickens, so please bear with me. I have a two week old chick who has been having bowel problems since she arrived.
First she presented with what I diagnosed, through extensive reading on this site, as pasty butt. We cleaned her with warm running water and moistened towels.
Although the other 9 chicks appear to be very healthy, we discontinued the electrolyte additive in the water (at about day four) and switched to 1tbs of ACV to the gallon of water. Took them off of the Dumoor starter, and put them on fine ground Countryside Organics starter/grower.
After a few more days, again everyone else seems fine. This chick is healthy and happy. She eats, drinks and chases bugs in the brooder with the rest, until she becomes plugged!
We can hear her call out when she is trying to poop. She can get about a quarter inch out, then hangs up. Sometimes she pecks it out or rubs it off, sometimes we have to help her. This makes a mess of her rear end, so the warm water washes and an occasional very gentle massaging/expressing is necessary to get her some relief. She resumes normal activity almost immediately once her obstruction has been relieved.
We began adding chick grit to the feed last week, and have offered yogurt, yogurt mixed with feed, and yogurt mixed with ground oatmeal to her/them. She is one of the few who won’t go near it.
Tuesday will mark three weeks for these chicks. She was the smallest in the bunch until we added four new chicks this week, but a considerable bully at roosting time and continues to take what appears to be reasonable amounts of feed and water. What ails this chick??!
Thanks in advance for your time and insight.
First she presented with what I diagnosed, through extensive reading on this site, as pasty butt. We cleaned her with warm running water and moistened towels.
Although the other 9 chicks appear to be very healthy, we discontinued the electrolyte additive in the water (at about day four) and switched to 1tbs of ACV to the gallon of water. Took them off of the Dumoor starter, and put them on fine ground Countryside Organics starter/grower.
After a few more days, again everyone else seems fine. This chick is healthy and happy. She eats, drinks and chases bugs in the brooder with the rest, until she becomes plugged!
We can hear her call out when she is trying to poop. She can get about a quarter inch out, then hangs up. Sometimes she pecks it out or rubs it off, sometimes we have to help her. This makes a mess of her rear end, so the warm water washes and an occasional very gentle massaging/expressing is necessary to get her some relief. She resumes normal activity almost immediately once her obstruction has been relieved.
We began adding chick grit to the feed last week, and have offered yogurt, yogurt mixed with feed, and yogurt mixed with ground oatmeal to her/them. She is one of the few who won’t go near it.
Tuesday will mark three weeks for these chicks. She was the smallest in the bunch until we added four new chicks this week, but a considerable bully at roosting time and continues to take what appears to be reasonable amounts of feed and water. What ails this chick??!
Thanks in advance for your time and insight.
