Pasty Butt

[Ashley4]

My baby chicken keeps getting pasty butt and it looks like her bottom prolapse. I put vaseline on it and I keep rinsing off her bottom when I see it. What else can I do?

 

[Callender Girl]

I have never dealt with pasty butt -- until my most recent chicks. I've just been trying to soften up the poop with a warm, wet wash cloth, then slowly work it off their behinds. I worry (about everything, really) that I will get them too wet and they will get too cold -- even though I KNOW the brooder is warm enough.

I don't know if that is a prolapse. My little ones' butts get a bit swollen and red every time I've had to clean them.

It's frustrating because all the chicks came from the same place, are in the same brooder, share the same feed, water and heat source. But most are fine. It's taken almost a week to get the poopy girls permanently cleaned up.

Good luck with your baby!

 

[jmb52]

I have never dealt with pasty butt -- until my most recent chicks. I've just been trying to soften up the poop with a warm, wet wash cloth, then slowly work it off their behinds. I worry (about everything, really) that I will get them too wet and they will get too cold -- even though I KNOW the brooder is warm enough.

I don't know if that is a prolapse. My little ones' butts get a bit swollen and red every time I've had to clean them.

It's frustrating because all the chicks came from the same place, are in the same brooder, share the same feed, water and heat source. But most are fine. It's taken almost a week to get the poopy girls permanently cleaned up.

Good luck with your baby!

It’s helpful to hear it took almost a week. I have my first ever group of 5 chicks and 3 days into being here one started pecking the others’ vents to the point of bloodiness. I made some changes and they all seem relatively peaceful now, but their booties seem like they’ll never be the same! Two look either prolapsed or swollen and fluffless and the others just don’t ever look fluffy back there anymore. It feels like a cycle of needing to be cleaned, which causes them stress, which leads to more problems that cause them to need to be cleaned. And I am SUCH a worrier that I am feeling a bit nervous about this whole undertaking since we’re off to such a stressful start. After you cleaned them did they fluff back up or stay a little matted looking?

 

[theycallmechickmagnet]

The ones we buy always get pasty butt. Usually i just rub their backside with olive oil, getting all the crust off and then (also with the olive oil) rub all the surrounding fur to the opposite directions of their vent. Kinda like parting hair lol. Eventually, when they're as much as 2-3 weeks old, it stops.

 

[Polishchicken7]

It doesn’t look like a prolapsed vent

 

[Callender Girl]

It IS stressful when tiny lives are in your hands. As a world-class worrier, I know how hard it is to want to do the best for your critters while being terrified that you aren't.

My chicks' pasty butts are all better. Their behinds were red for a bit, and I thought the feathers looked a little matted at first, but I just kept slowly working the dried poop off, and everyone has been fine.

Hope all is well with yours!

 

[Ashley4]

It doesn’t look like a prolapsed vent

It was. The baby ended up not making it after I tried everything to save her.

 

[Callender Girl]

I am so sorry that you lost your baby. Sometimes, even when we do everything we know how to do, they still don't make it. You tried your best..

 

[Ashley4]

I am so sorry that you lost your baby. Sometimes, even when we do everything we know how to do, they still don't make it. You tried your best..

Thank you

 

[Morgan Leigh]

My 2 week old chick has pasty butt and when she poops i see a bit of her internal muscle? come out..I use a warm, wet Qtip and clean the area then use Prep H to reduce swelling. It's been working well so far and I'm hoping that as she grows that internal bit stays where it belongs / goes back to normal. I've tried to look up diagrams of chicken's internal vent area but no real luck of what part it is. Anyone know?