Pasty butt

[Thechickentrainer1999]

Anyway to prevent baby chicks from getting pasty butt? I was going to get some chicks about a week old but I realized a lot of them that young seem to get it so I guess I'll wait and get some older.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

Anyway to prevent baby chicks from getting pasty butt? I was going to get some chicks about a week old but I realized a lot of them that young seem to get it so I guess I'll wait and get some older.

I have bought 30 day old chicks with none getting pasty butt. It’s rather easy to fix anyway.

 

[Broody Bist]

I don’t know about ‘preventing’ it, but if you do have a chick with a messy bottom, what we usually do is clean the poop off then put a bit of Vaseline on the feathers around their vent. We only had to clean our silkie chicks’ bottoms once using that method, they are a month old now and haven’t had it again.
Hope this helps

 

[chickens really]

Keeping the Brooder the right temperature so Chicks don't get too cold prevents pasty butt. I lost a Silkie chick yesterday to pasty butt. Hen raised but got to cold for them even with the heat lamp on. Now I have a Hen and Chicks in my house Brooder with zero pasty butt today.

 

[aart]

Anyway to prevent baby chicks from getting pasty butt?

Keep the brooder the right temp...too hot or too cold can cause digestion problems, which is what causes pasty butt. There should be a warm place and a cooler place(see below)
Make sure they eat and especially drink...nothing but plain water and chick starter crumbles.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[CoopintheWoods]

I found that it helps to prevent pasty butt if you allow the chicks to only drink water (no food) for a half hour or so after you get them. Then offer both food and water.

To treat pasty butt, I always used warm water, and then dried the chick with a blow dryer on a very low setting. I don't know if that's the best method, but they all turned out fine.

Good luck with yours!

 

[RevRico]

So do I use a paper towel or wash them in a little bowl? I think 2 or 3 of my chicks I brought home today have it.

 

[aart]

So do I use a paper towel or wash them in a little bowl? I think 2 or 3 of my chicks I brought home today have it.

I use a shallow bowl/jar/lid, just deep enough to wet the poop, if needed to remove.
Set bowl under a utility lamp set low to the table to keep them warm, gotta hold them in there until it's soft enough to wipe off-which can take awhile. I just dry with paper towel then back under the brooder heat.

 

[imnukensc]

I hold a chick so the pasty butt is under lukewarm running water to soften the poop and gently massage it off. Dry with a paper towel.

 

[Mosey2003]

I hold a chick so the pasty butt is under lukewarm running water to soften the poop and gently massage it off. Dry with a paper towel.

Same. I hold them with their head between my thumb and forefinger of my left hand, facing left, and cradle their body with my fingers, so I can keep their face away from the water.

I wish I could narrow down why I always end up with at least a few pasty ones. I hatch at home, I'm nearly positive my heat is just right (the chicks sit under it in the appropriate fashion, not huddled or avoiding it), I don't give them food until they've been in there with just water for a couple hours, I give plain water and chick starter. But I always get a few. I never offer grit though, so I'm thinking I may do that next and see if it makes a difference, since it's the only variable I haven't tried changing. Besides adding ACV to the water, which folks claim works but I refuse to do.