poop on butt

[erindubb]

That is such a gross title for a post - but I don't know what to do. I wish I could post a pic - but still am being denied. Ahh. I was told that poopy butt chicks die. It is a bantam chick and is two weeks old. Today is the first time i noticed it. It is all dried and stuck and i can't get it off. It is huge - like as big as her (hopefully her) butt. What do I do? Will she die?

 

[ranchhand]

It's called pasty butt. Do a search for it and you will have volumes of information!

But the basics of the usual treatment is to soak the little butt in warm water and very carefully clip and/or work the poop off. Do NOT pull at it!

 

[Manda0227]

I used q-tips, and dipped them in warm/hot water, then took it to the poop that is stuck- if it was really dry then I'd get it wet, and let it soak for a few seconds. Then I'd turn the q-tip gently, and work it off. I found that to be the easiest method. Every single time after I cleaned off a pasty butt (thank GOODNESS nobody has it anymore!), they felt better. I actually have only had to do it on my bantams, my standards never had an issue. Also, VERY CAREFULLY, after it was all clean, I trimmed the fluff around the vent so it wouldn't happen as much. I've read some have put vasaline on it afterwards- but I didn't even bother. Whatever method you use, you NEED to get it off immediately. It can kill chicks. Good luck!

 

[FarmMilkMama]

we just dealt with this issue ourselves a couple weeks ago. We tried warm water and working the poop off...what eventually helped us the most was glopping a little bit of bag balm (you know, for cows?) on the dried on poop and letting it sit for an hour and working that through all the dried on poop. Worked like a charm. We had three chicks that had that issue, now they are fine. You definitely have to keep an eye on it though!