Pasty butt on a 10 day old button quail

[AlyssaJane22]

I've got a little button quail chick--Half&Half-- who has been dealing with some pasty butt for the last three days. He is our long-legged runt, but has been doing great until the pasty butt. I have been diligent about cleaning it off with warm water and a Q tip at least once or twice a day, but he is so tiny and wiggly that I am constantly worried I'm going to hurt him. The poop dries to his little butt feathers, which seems to really tug and hurt with even the most gentle swabbing.

I think I first noticed it the day I added ACV to their water, which was surprising to me, as I had added this as a way to *prevent* pasty butt (and because I had read that it was generally good for poultry). Is it possible that 1tbs/gallon is too much for some individual birds? Could that possibly be the culprit?

I'm not quite sure what to try--most of the advice I can find is for baby chickens, and some of them I know won't work (like adding chick grit--still too tiny), and others I can only find suggested one place, with no confirmation anywhere else (I don't want to try 10 different things at once).

Has anyone had luck with rubbing a little olive oil on the vent and/or giving them some plain yogurt? I also read that molasses mixed into the water can help clear it up--any experience with this?
OR--Does anyone have any other suggestions or ideas as to why he might have suddenly started having this issue? I really wanna get the little guy back to healthy poops ASAP!

Thank you, BYC!

 

[AlyssaJane22]

We JUST figured out that we did the math wrong when adding the ACV to the waterer--in fact, we doubled it. I know that too much ACV can give people diarrhea. Do you think this might have been the problem? Our other two chicks seemed fine.

Regardless, we swapped the water out immediately for a properly mixed batch (ad scrubbed the waterer clean), cleaned out the brooder entirely, and wiped a little olive oil on Half & Half's butt to hopefully keep overnight poos from sticking. Crossed fingers!

 

[DK newbie]

Good luck with him. I have no experience with the problem but correcting the ACV dose and using olive oil doesn't sound like it can make it worse. Hope he gets better.

 

[rita2paul]

i never add ACV when they are little, i only use warm water for them to drink until they are all feathered up and ready to go outside.

 

[AlyssaJane22]

Thanks for your thoughts, DK newbie and rita2paul!
Yesterday afternoon, I applied a small dap of antibiotic ointment on Hanf&Half's vent, as it had gotten a little swollen and irritated--I figures this might serve to both lubricate that surface, while also keeping any micro fissures he might have from getting infected. So far, so good! He still has a clean tush this morning.
Last night, I went and got some probiotics (the kind you add to water) and currently have that in their waterer in place of the ACV after I noticed that the other two chicks were having more watery looking poos than normal. As of this morning, everyone seems to be pretty high energy and looking good. Well, good as in healthy--they're starting to feather out, so they're looking like leggy, awkward teenagers

 

[Binki]

Thanks for your thoughts, DK newbie and rita2paul! 
Yesterday afternoon, I applied a small dap of antibiotic ointment on Hanf&Half's vent, as it had gotten a little swollen and irritated--I figures this might serve to both lubricate that surface, while also keeping any micro fissures he might have from getting infected. So far, so good! He still has a clean tush this morning.
Last night, I went and got some probiotics (the kind you add to water) and currently have that in their waterer in place of the ACV after I noticed that the other two chicks were having more watery looking poos than normal. As of this morning, everyone seems to be pretty high energy and looking good. Well, good as in healthy--they're starting to feather out, so they're looking like leggy, awkward teenagers 

Hehe his poor butt xD is it improved now? :O also, do you give them any treats?

 

[geniash]

Try a chick probiotic from feed supply store. I've heard you can also use human probiotics diluted in water but never tried them. Here is the one I use for my chicks with great results (it is way cheaper at the feed supply store):
https://www.amazon.com/Milk-Product...&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=chick+boost+probiotics

 

[AlyssaJane22]

Quote:
The only treats they've been offered so far are a bit of apple (which they weren't interested in) and some ground up mealworms (which they loved). No treats for the past few days, however, as we figured keeping their diets super consistent until they're a bit more...regular might be a good idea. So far, it looks like the probiotics are doing their job! Normal, healthy poos. Also, we now know that Half&Half is NOT a boy--her feathers are coming in, and she looks just like her momma (light speckled--dad was a black faced red breasted, so we are preeety sure shes a hen)

 

[Binki]

Quote:
The only treats they've been offered so far are a bit of apple (which they weren't interested in) and some ground up mealworms (which they loved). No treats for the past few days, however, as we figured keeping their diets super consistent until they're a bit more...regular might be a good idea. So far, it looks like the probiotics are doing their job! Normal, healthy poos. Also, we now know that Half&Half is NOT a boy--her feathers are coming in, and she looks just like her momma (light speckled--dad was a black faced red breasted, so we are preeety sure shes a hen)

Awwwww haha grats on a clean butt and a hopeful hen!!

 

[AlyssaJane22]

Final update on our poopy butt little quail!

The poor kid started getting pasty butt again last weekend. SO we switched them to just plain old water, gave them some chick grit to peck at, and kept them on the high protein crumbles we'd been feeding them since hatching (no more mealworms, for the time being).

Maybe the electrolytes in the probiotic mix were giving them the runs. Maybe it was the high fat content in the mealworms that was making the poo sticky and gloopy. Regardless--clean butts all around these days.

I'll post a thread with some pictures soon--gosh they are cute. They've started doing some grown up calling back and forth in the brooder, and are almost fully feathered out, though still only half the size of their parents (who are fat little things).