Spring 2017 first timers post!

[Blooie]

I also had pasty butt with the MHP. I have 4 different breeds of chicks but it was only one of the breeds, and all of those. I suspect it was something in that breed, not with the brooder set up or anything.
X2 on using olive oil.

 

[csharpdev]

I'm really surprised that any of your chicks have pasty butt.....you are the first person who has reported that with MHP and I'm so sorry! I haven't had any since my first batch of chicks, and they were raised under a heat lamp. I remember being so frustrated because I couldn't imagine how 22 chicks ended up with 144 hineys to clean.

You can certainly try the apple cider vinegar in their water. Do you mind if I ask a few questions in case it comes up in the MHP thread? Any information we share helps others, right?

When you clean it off, can you either slightly trim the down from around the vent?(not enough to make a target for the others to peck at and irritate, just enough to reduce the down the poop has to stick to)

Did you try dabbing a small amount of olive oil, coconut oil, or Vaseline if that's what you have on hand, on the down around the vents to make poop less likely to stick?

Are they in a lighted room all night long or do the lights go out at sunset so they aren't eating 24/7?

Did they already have pasty butt when you got them?

That "hiding chicks" is the biggest drawback to MHP, but then I can't look at them under a broody either - at least not when it's Attila the Hen out there. When she's broody I don't even to out to the coop without chain mail, a helmet, gauntlets, and a sword! But I found that if I just lift up the front of the "cave", they are all right there.

I wish you all the best of luck, and again, I'm sorry you are having such a hard time.

Usually some of the down comes off with the poop but beyond that I haven't trimmed any. I haven't tried putting any oil on them but that is a good suggestion, I may try that if I have time in the morning before work. They arrived noisy and vibrant and appeared to be healthy...no pasty butt. It was probably about 24 hours after arrival that I started noticing pasty butt and probably pulled poop off 10 - 12 of them over the course of a half hour watching them go in and out of mhp.

They are in the garage. There is natural light coming through the windows in the garage door and it's dark at night. I need a flash light at night to make sure they all found their way under mhp and so far they always have. I checked on them too soon after dark sunday night and as soon as the flash light hit the brooder about a dozen chicks ran out to the feeder.

Their favorite activity (besides eating) is going on top of the mhp and jumping off. They usually wait for a chick or 2 to be wandering around the landing zone before jumping to help cushion the fall. I'm surprised that the Ameruacana's seem to be the fastest growing of the bunch since they shouldn't get as big.

 

[csharpdev]

I wonder if some breeds are just more susceptible to pasty butt? I seem to be pulling poop off the NH's far more than the others and have lost more NH's. I don't think any of the black australorps have had it.

 

[OCeggs23]

Just as an aside for other newbie chick owners... I thought some of my chicks had pasty butt and was cleaning and cleaning and worrying too. However I have realized that some of my chicks are just messy poopers! Poop gets stuck in the feathers/down of their butts, but the vent itself is clear.
So check for the vent, you might be wiping and not really have to!

 

[homestedmommy]

I noticed the same thing I was worried and cleaning there behinds seemed like constantly but noticed they were just messy and as they get older they get cleaner and cleaner

 

[ShannonO]

Another first timer chiming in here. My on-grade block foundation is done and coop construction begins on 3/10. We are building The Garden Loft.

Ten chicks arrive 3/13 via my local southern states. Here are the breeds:
Araucana (2)
Barred Rock
White Leghorn
Black Australop
Rhode Island Red
Buff Orpington
Golden Laced Wyandotte
Welsummer (2)

I picked up a combo Craigslist deal of a 4'x4'x2' brooder box (and a 2'x2' insert for when they are tiny) along with a chick feeder, waterer, and three lamps. But given this thread and the dust concerns I am starting to consider the MHP and outdoor method. I can't brood from the beginning in the coop because the coop isn't built yet. Debating whether to brood them outdoors in the brooder box. Any thoughts?

 

[NOVAchickenGuys]

I was a little overzealous when they had some hard poop so I decided to do a little "surgery" by a quick pull on the poop and it removed the down around the butt and no longer any dirty butts.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Another first timer chiming in here. My on-grade block foundation is done and coop construction begins on 3/10. We are building The Garden Loft.

Ten chicks arrive 3/13 via my local southern states. Here are the breeds:
Araucana (2)
Barred Rock
White Leghorn
Black Australop
Rhode Island Red
Buff Orpington
Golden Laced Wyandotte
Welsummer (2)

I picked up a combo Craigslist deal of a 4'x4'x2' brooder box (and a 2'x2' insert for when they are tiny) along with a chick feeder, waterer, and three lamps. But given this thread and the dust concerns I am starting to consider the MHP and outdoor method. I can't brood from the beginning in the coop because the coop isn't built yet. Debating whether to brood them outdoors in the brooder box. Any thoughts?

I would brood outside, in a garage or shed maybe? Or get busy with the coop...

Good luck

Gary

 

[fangedknight]

Hey ya! First Timer getting ready to place my order for my chicks this spring!

I've already decided on Silver Laced Wyandottes as my main birds, not sure if I want to also get some Golden Laced or maybe some Blue Laced Red (However it'll be after May when I get my chicks if I do get the Blue Laced Red since my local Feed Mill that I'll be ordering from won't have them in till then.)

My Boyfriend, Keith, and I are starting to work on the chicken coop and run. So far we got a really old busted up chicken coop and run for free that I found on Facebook, we're gonna salvage what we can from all of that and then build it up from there. We're planning on making it big enough for about 20 chickens so hopefully we won't have too much trouble with all the math.

Now I've been thinking about my hen to roo ratio, and Keith's been saying you want 15-20 hens per 1 rooster. Would that work or should I have a second rooster just in case?

 

[collie1470]

Our babies ship tomorrow!!!