Pasting up first day...

[horsesnchkns]

so I got my first batch of chicks today. I'm pretty excited. I"ve read alot on these boards, I feel like an expert, but I'm not. not even close. So.. I brought my babies home from teh feed store, all quite lively. however, a few of them had "poopy butts". I've read about "pasting up" and wondering... so I picked one of the babies up and tried to moisten the dried poop and worked on it for a while and really kinda stressed that poor baby out. I made sure her vent was not plugged, the poop is still caked on... should I keep working on it til its clean? A few of the others have a little poop stuck to their hind ends, also.. so wondering if this is somewhat "normal" for their first day? They arrived at the feed store yesterday, I went and got them today. Do I "stress them out" and work to get tehm all clean or let it wait a day and see what happens? I don't want to "wait a day" and come back to dead chickens. They are out in an old stall... heat lamp, huge box, they are in chicken heaven honestly.

Thanks all!

 

[Judy]

The main thing is to keep the vent itself open. The danger is when the plug prevents their pooping, which can actually be lethal. And the main thing for that is to keep them hydrated and not too hot. Very young chicks often foul their water quickly, so it may need some attention. Put it up on a brick or similar if you can. For not too hot, it's a good thing for them to be able to move away from their heat source to wherever they are comfortable. If you have some, a little organic ACV (apple cider vinegar) in the water does seem to help.

Also, for those you have cleaned, put a little lubricant around their vent to discourage future poops from sticking. You can use Vaseline, veggie oil, Crisco, even Neosporin -- whatever you have. I found it easiest to clean them by holding their back end under a slow stream of running warm water. It takes a few minutes. If I didn't get every fleck off every feather tip, frankly, I didn't worry about it. It shouldn't be a problem as long as the skin doesn't have any open cuts or abrasions.

 

[redsoxs]

Great advice!!

 

[horsesnchkns]

Yes, great advice! Thank you!!! I went back out there and made sure everyone was at least "open".. I"ll work on cleaning and lubricating in the morning. I do have their water on a brick, and I put several of the babies up on the brick, kind of tried to poke their beak into the water, but they weren't really having much of that, and being day one I didn't want to stress them too much. But they are milling around the water and I'm fairly certain they know where it is. If I didn't think my family would think I'm nuts I'd probably toss a cot out there and sleep out there with my horses and baby chicks. Course, it's gonna get a bit chilly tonight so I guess I'll stay in my own warm bed and check on them in the morning.

 

[Judy]

I think I used to use two layers of bricks, like one on top of three, to make "steps." You'll be surprised how fast they will learn to climb them.