Hey there everyone, my babies arrived! All 6 made it and seem to be healthy little things (I ordered them from MyPetChicken and would feel very comfortable recommending them!)... except for my one baby who just started pasting up. Boogers! I was hoping that my hours of research and obsessing over details would prevent this (cause that's how it happens, right? you plan for it and then don't have to deal with it). Anyways, I've searched through the previous posts on pasty butt and read up on solutions. The hot water method isn't the greatest, but I've managed to get the vent cleared (there's still some poo clinging to the chick's butt despite my heroic efforts). Here's my question, what else can I do to help her out? I'm hard-boiling some eggs (yay protein!) right now and planning to mash the yolks up with a small spoonful of yogurt (yay probiotics!) and some chick crumbles, this seems to be the advice of previous posts on this subject. Does this sound like it will help? Or am I just going to great lengths to spoil my babies, but in a way that won't really help with the pasty butt?
Take some Olive oil and get a q-tip and put a coat on and around her vent. Also a dish of sand or dirt form outside will help there digestion and make for healthy poops. It normally only lasts for the first week, but after I used the OE I had no more problems.
Hold the chick's bum under tepid warm water and after softening, gently crush the poo. Dab dry. Olive oil or a quick dab and rub of vasoline works wonders!!
Thank you for reading! Yeah, I've tried holding the bum in warm water and that's how I got most of the poo off. I put some vaseline around the vent, as recommended in a different post on pasty butt. I'll definitely try the olive oil next, I noticed that was recommended as well in some other posts. From reading other posts my perception is that pasty butt can be caused by either stress, or diet, or both. The babies just arrived in the mail yesterday, so the stress part is totally understandable. I'm trying to see if I can help with the diet aspect by adding the probiotics (and protein of the cooked yolks), does this sound like a good approach? I'll continue to clean the babies vent though! I just wanted to see if I can help with the underlying cause, if at all possible. I haven't introduced grit yet, I'm under the impression that there is some in the medicated chick crumbles that I'm feeding. I'll definitely try adding some more though! Thank you again for taking the time to help me out! edited for spelling
You can certainly feed the exotic treats and there's little harm in trying it. That said, I feed nothing but the crumbles and pure water, with no additives. Sure, around week 3, I enjoy giving some excess eggs, if we have them. Scrambled. They go totally ape!! Their pecking instinct is so strong when they are little, they'll peck at the side of the brooder. I like them to use that urge to peck on the crumbles. All chickens, of whatever age, are very easy to "spoil". I always wait a few weeks before tempting
You could try and put some molasses in their water as well, it is a natural laxitive for them. This is what we did when ours first arrived and we had this issue. Great advice on here!
Hey Aila, Just got my 7 from My pet chicken yesterday morning. We are in Tampa Florida. Everyone happy and health but we do have 1 full blown case of pasty butt. I just finished swabbing all 7 butts with olive oil and they squawked all over the place about the rude treatment being the prim little ladies that they are. After a little preening, they are all settling in for a nap. Chicken Daddy, Thanks for the advice. the olive oil seemed to clean them off much better than the water and should help them to keep from caking up. I also gave them some sand but they are not sure what to do with that yet.
Glad; A little treat I'm giving my new chicks (had then for 4 days now) is I soak the crumbles in water. I have 2 different feeders, one dry crumblems and one wet, they gravitate to the wet Crumbles. Why they like it so much is beyond me but they do. Good luck with your chicks.
