Pasty Butt in Youngest and Smallest 2 day old Quail chick

[Ruskin_Roost]

**NEW** Above his vent there is a small white tube among his feathers.
This seems to be the cause of the distress and pain. The swelling has worsened since the morning when I "unblocked" him. He seems to go for it, but often nips at the vent. I wonder if that is causing the swollenness. I first softened the area with coconut oil but have switched to vaseline because one of the other chicks was pecking at his behind with the coconut oil on it. Because he is pooping, I wonder if the white tube is excreting the clear liquid that is causing his vent to seal and his feathers to stick and clump. Could this be bacterial? My next step is calling a vet.
Do you recommend:
- separating him from the others
- using preperation h to bring down the swelling
- giving him sugar water or pineapple juice?
- putting apple cider vinegar water out for him
- giving him antibiotics? He is so young.

Old:
Hello everyone!
I am so glad to be a new member of this amazing, supportive community! I lost one quail chick last night (I believe he aspirated) and now I have put all my worry on the smallest member of the Covey, little Tux (I call him a him, but it is unknown at this point). He has pasty-butt! The back sides of his rear end were hard with a clear liquid I thought was membrane and I had cleaned it off with distilled, warm water and a Q-Tip. I know that wetting them can lead to chill so I want to avoid this process as much as possible. I have had to clean the vent three times. This morning, once I cleaned, he unloaded 3x poop and it looks healthy- he doesn’t seem dehydrated or constipated (yet).

I have pineapple water in a syringe, Vaseline and coconut oil on a-tips, apple-cider vinegar water ready to go, as per the suggestions in the following chicken thread... but I am unsure if I should be assisting in these same ways, for a quail chick. I would love to make his life less stressful and help ensure his survival! He is a spunky little guy who loves to bury himself under the others so he must struggle with maintaining his own body heat even though the brooder is at 100. He gets random spurts of energy but spends a considerable amount of time trying to reach his back end with his beak, often causing him to topple over. He often wakes up just to nip at his rear.

thank you for any suggestions!
Sincerely,
Michelle (first time raising quail)

I had one that I seriously considered culling due to pasty butt followed by constipation. He (I think) and my other chronic pasty butt chickie were much smaller than their siblings for weeks but are catching up now at 5 weeks.
Here is what I found worked for me:

Pasty butt can be caused by stress, overheating, and dehydration to name the main causes. Make sure the brooder temp is not too high (or low as that can cause stress) and that your chicks have a 'cool zone' away from the brooder light. If you haven't already, dip their beaks into their water to make sure they know where the water is. Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in their drinking water can also help with pasty butt. Add 2 TBSP/gallon. As it needs to be remade every 24 hours for freshness, I made smaller batches when my chicks were little. 1 TBSP/ half gallon water or 1&1/2 TSP/ Quart (4 cups) water.
Cleaning pasty butt off under a light, warm (not hot) stream of water in the sink seems to be less chafing than using paper towels or a wash cloth,if the pasty butt is chronic.
A lubricant of some sort (Vaseline, coconut oil, even olive oil in a pinch) can help things slide more smoothly off the vent. Use a small amount as the other chicks may pick at the chicks vent if the down gets too oily and matted. Preparation H can help if the vent gets swollen. Use the original formula and not the pain relieving stuff.
In case of constipation, if you can get it to take some coconut oil and/or pineapple juice. I used a dropper for that. I was giving maybe 1/8 tsp twice a day of a half juice half oil mixture at 2 weeks so maybe 1/2 that much for your 1 week old.
Also, I had to give one of mine an enema as it got so stopped up it couldn't go at all. A small needleless syringe (found in the baby section of most stores with about a 1/4 tsp of warm (not hot) water slowly squirted into the vent can be quite helpful if it gets that bad. I had to do this twice before it stopped crying out when it tried to go, then I kept up the pineapple juice and coconut oil for about 3 days after.

Good luck with your chickie!

 

[bluemtnwmn]

Hi Michelle! I don't know what the differences are between chickens and quail but you should be able to google it. You can also try searching this site specifically. The New Member Tutorial video is very helpful for learning to navigate the site. I found a lot of info on pasty butt by googling but ended up joining this site because I kept finding answers here.
Good luck with your Tux!

 

[mdees88]

Just keep an eye on him. I had one with pasty butt but didn't realize it until he was several days old and was significantly smaller than the other chicks. I had to clean his butt 3 times over two days. I would rub a little Vaseline on it too once it was clean. He did fine but was always smaller than the rest.

 

[Ruskin_Roost]

Hi Michelle! I don't know what the differences are between chickens and quail but you should be able to google it. You can also try searching this site specifically. The New Member Tutorial video is very helpful for learning to navigate the site. I found a lot of info on pasty butt by googling but ended up joining this site because I kept finding answers here.
Good luck with your Tux!

Thank you for your response! I also joined this site because many of my google searches lead me here. I hope you have a wonderful day!

 

[Ruskin_Roost]

Just keep an eye on him. I had one with pasty butt but didn't realize it until he was several days old and was significantly smaller than the other chicks. I had to clean his butt 3 times over two days. I would rub a little Vaseline on it too once it was clean. He did fine but was always smaller than the rest.

He came out of the smallest shell, and has been petite since day 1, and he is really quite energetic so I am trying not to worry! He just stresses over his bottom end and spends so much energy trying to peck at his own bottom. Thank you for your advice! I will stick to the cleaning and vaselining routine and making sure he continues to eat and drink.

 

[bluemtnwmn]

I'm finding it interesting how often this happens that the pasty butt patients = smallest chick in the flock. I had 3 out of 17 Delawares that were petite and had solid white feathers until they were around 4 weeks old. Of those 3, 2 had chronic pasty butt (lasted for about 10 days) but the 3rd was just fine. I wonder which comes first, the petite size or the pasty butt?

 

[Ruskin_Roost]

I had three silver coturnix eggs and all three hatched more petite and stayed smaller than the pansy coturnix quail. They are so cute! But maybe there is a correlation between size and the development of their innards that leads to pasty butt? It would make sense!