new to meat birds chicks 2 weeks old

[mareview farm]

New to meat birds just picked up chicks last week. They seems to produce way more poop than my last two flocks of layers. I noticed their buts are rather matted. I am using newspaper for bedding right now because I have been told that shavings at at chick stag is not good. Should I be worried about pasty but. I changed to a bigger pen for them today hoping that more space will equal cleaner birds. Maine is rather cold this spring so the chicks are inside the house under a heat lamp until the days warm up.

 

[dwyer360]

I am new to meats as well, i did read that if you see pasty butt take a warm wet paper towel and wipe them. I had 6 birds on shredded paper and never had a problem.

 

[EGGTASKTIC]

Eat and poop that is their lot in life. They go through a lot of food. I use wood shavings, just what I can get cheap. I do not use news paper, from what I have seen you can have problems with spradled legs. A little warm water and a paper towl will do the trick to clean up any pastie butts.

How many did you start with?

 

[blueskylen]

they say that pasty butt is caused by the chick getting chilled, don't know for sure, but last year about 25 out of 50 had it - this year only 5 out of 60 had it. go figure.

the chicks will die if you don't clean it off, as it completely blocks and they can't poo.

i use a warm paper towel to clean and then take a qtip and dab on some olive oil around the butt, as it keeps the poo from sticking as much. it only lasts for a week or so, then seems to go away.

Good Luck

 

[Dogfish]

Mine have been on shavings since day one, and they are also 2 weeks old. In an hour they have those shavings fairly well trampled. They should have no issue with PINE/FIR shavings. No cedar shavings should be used.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I think more accurate would be to say they "could" die. From big factory farms down people who do 75-100 birds at a time, DON'T chase their chicks around with wet paper towels. I've had plenty of dead chicks, and plenty of pasty butts, but never found a dead chick with a pasty butt. If you only have a few birds and are worried, you can clean them up, but it isn't crucial. Also, don't worry about shavings, it won't hurt them. It is hard for them to walk on newspaper though, so you're better off only putting it down for them for a couple of days. It does help them find the food in the first couple of days however.