New chick with pooper problems

[petrel]

She has started again! This bird "Mildred" (Delaware) is the biggest in the bunch and very active as well. She is now 6 months old and has a dirty, but not matted or plugged, rear end again! The rest of my little flock seems clean and fine. Is a pasty butt as a chick a sign of future digestive issues? The flock is on organic layer feed, has oyster shell, granite grit, and river sand available, gets barley or clover fodder daily, and a few hand picked table and meat trimming scraps each day. Waterers are rinsed and replenished every 2-3 days.

Suggestions/insights would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[ten chicks]

She has started again! This bird "Mildred" (Delaware) is the biggest in the bunch and very active as well. She is now 6 months old and has a dirty, but not matted or plugged, rear end again! The rest of my little flock seems clean and fine. Is a pasty butt as a chick a sign of future digestive issues? The flock is on organic layer feed, has oyster shell, granite grit, and river sand available, gets barley or clover fodder daily, and a few hand picked table and meat trimming scraps each day. Waterers are rinsed and replenished every 2-3 days.

Suggestions/insights would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Look up information for vent gleet,see if this is what you are seeing. No,pasty butt as a chick does not indicate future issues. Here is a link for vent gleet

www.backyardchickens.com/a/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt

 

[petrel]

Thanks for the information and the link! I looked at that once before, but my girl's condition does not seem that extreme and does not seem to be worsening. However, I am still going to heed some of the advice given in the write up and see if it helps.

Thanks again!

 

[Bean789]

I just read your thread on Mildred, who I know at this writing is now deceased. So sorry for your loss.

For future reference, the issue you may have been having is a stage of vent gleet or something very similar. One of my baby chicks, Bavis, had this same issue and we tried most of the treatments mentioned on the site you were referred to in an earlier reply. Yogurt did nothing on it's own. Olive Oil did nothing on it's own. Forcing water along with olive oil did nothing on it's own. There was a discernible clear discharge and she screeched loud enough for the immediate neighbors to hear. Poor Bavis' vent got so swollen from straining, it was turning inside out it seemed. We separated her (along with a different brooder mate daily) in a dog kennel and watered down her starter feed, added some yogurt, mineral oil and then....here's the funny part....treated her vent with Preparation H. Worked like a charm and she was pooping on her own in 2 days. (She got 'butt baths' under the faucet and we would 'assist' her with massages, etc. to help relieve some of the bloating).

She is now of egg laying age and we watch her carefully to see if she will have trouble passing an egg. Unfortunately, if she does, it may be in her best health interest to be culled as there would be no way for us to keep up with her egg production attempts on a daily basis and us having to help her pass it or remove it each time. If that is what the future holds, my 4 yo granddaughter will be devastated as she is Bavis' 'mama'. I don't know who I will find to do the deed for me either.