The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[COChix]

I just checked all my nine chicks, and two others also had dried poo stuck to their butt feathers. But theirs wasn't white, and they were running around and acting normal. I cleaned them off and put vaseline on.

I did mix some plain yogurt with scrambled egg & put it in with their ff, and most of the chicks seemed to like it ok (no one liked the yogurt plain!).

The one I posted about first just stands in a corner and sleeps.  Should I try giving her some sugar water, or maybe some sugar water mixed with yogurt?

My understanding of pasty butt is that it is heat related stress. The things I have found that have helped clear it is fermenting their feed, are you fermenting medicated starter or non medicated starter? Before I fermented we added some ACV to the chicks water and that cured the pasty butt within a day.

 

[Jewelwing]

Your heat lamp was at the perfect level. Sleeping on the edge of the circle is where you want them. If you raise it too high, they'll be piled all over each other trying to get warm. I'd put it back down where you had it.

Last year I had chicks with pasty butt that had a broody taking care of them. I don't know what causes it actually but trying to keep them clean and dry may help.

They will learn to like the yogurt, honest. At first they don't want it because its wet... they start shaking their little heads as soon as they see it, as if they already know! So funny to watch!

Question about the white diarrhea one... does they chick cry out as if in pain when it goes?

I put the heat lamp back (before the chick died).

I've been feeding them fermented food, so they were already eating wet food before the yogurt. They're not crazy about either one, truth be told. I ended up mixing the yogurt with scrambled egg, which they just love, and they ate it fine that way.

To answer your question, no, she didn't seem to be in pain at all. Just lethargic, even after I gave her sugar water and egg yolk (at different times!).

i noticed it more in brooding pen, and after cleaning it off they started drinking a lot more I noticed so maybe they weren't drinking enough, and getting butt cleaned up made em drink enough so it didn't happen again because didn't have them get it more than once.

I think there can be a lot of different reasons for pasty butt. And it probably snowballs, so if they get pasty butt for some reason, they can't poop which makes them feel worse, so they don't feel like eating or drinking, which makes the pasty butt worse, and so on. For my chick, I don't know what was wrong in the first place, but just cleaning off her butt didn't make her feel any better.

 

[Jewelwing]

My understanding of pasty butt is that it is heat related stress. The things I have found that have helped clear it is fermenting their feed, are you fermenting medicated starter or non medicated starter? Before I fermented we added some ACV to the chicks water and that cured the pasty butt within a day.

Non-medicated.

It does seem like it was heat-related, but I don't understand - if she was too hot why didn't she just move out from under the heat lamp? All the chicks were sleeping under or at the edge of the lamp's glow, so I didn't think it was too low.

 

[Lacy Blues]

In my case, I believe this broody hatched out her chicks in something like January when it was freezing outside. She hatched them out alright but two of them had gotten outside the nesting box and couldn't get back in. They were bantams and the edge of the nesting box was something like 2" tall but it was so bloody cold that they weakened quickly. I went out to check on them at some point and found them outside the box, not trying very hard any longer to get back in. I brought them in the house and put them under a light bulb for about an hour to warm them and the took them back to their mama. I don't know if it was these two that got it but I'm pretty sure it was. I fixed the area outside the nest box to facilitate tiny chick attempts to get back in.

 

[YardBirdMom]

Quick question: at what age do you let your chicks free range with a broody mama?
Mine are fully feathered, about 6 weeks old and are in a separate coop/run from the rest of the flock. My hen definitely wants to take them out, but I fear a hawk could just snatch one, especially since 3 of the 10 are bantams.

 

[Lacy Blues]

You should let them out already. It might be too late though. Six weeks is usually when the hen abandons the chicks to fend for themselves. She would have taught them to be watchful!

 

[slordaz]

I have had the little RIR's we got as little fuzzballs out in the coop since they were brought home with the chicks that we got last moth watching closely the first couple of days as the chick is in with them in a protected bigger nest, They have been with us for 6 days now and yesterday we introduced a 2 month old barred rock cockrel to the flock so had kept the babies locked in the pen where they couldn't get out and nobody could get them in. Today they were out under watchful eyes as they are used to going out in the run with the older chicks and they ventured outside for a bit of free ranging but stayed pretty close to the run , the cockrel and the #1 in pecking order pullet stayed with them and all did fine for about 2 hours then they went back in for nap time as were tired from all that running around.

At this point the little cockrel and the older one are getting along great and taught the mallard not to pick on the baby chicks, poor guy was mopping instead of foraging after the week old nailed him for pecking at one of them as well as the new 2 month old cockrel. All Day they have been in the run or coop and stayed close to the older male cockrel and the chick thats been playing momma to them.

You know your flock best and if you have the time to watch them you can do it earlier than normal, they've been there so the flock knows them but we had added one bird recently and weren't to sure how everyone would react so we stayed close besides the one raising it and had the broom close in case was needed to get some extra reach.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Wow - finally caught up I think! I am having the hardest time keeping up with BYC threads and still sleeping! Want to know how many times I've falling asleep trying to catch up??

Wanted to share that I successfully treated Cocci this past week with an herbal product called Kocci Free. I got it on Amazon. Unfortunately I had 2 chicks get sick over the weekend (a week ago) and lost them b4 I knew what was going on. I thought I would lose a third when I woke up to an obviously unwell chick last Tuesday morning, but apparently the Kocci free I had started the night before kicked in and it bounced back.

It was a really hard couple days. The first chick that died was my daughter's special silkie chick. She'd been waiting a year for silkies. Lot's of tears. I tried hard to save it but it was too late. Garlic and Oregano was not enough. I am so glad I had the Kocci Free in my Chicken First Aid kit.

These are the only chicks I have bought that were on medicated feed while still at the breeder. SInce then I have discovered that her methods are far from natural and more mainline - immediately turning to pharmaceutical meds. I know that sometimes they are unavoidable, but for her it is the only way. I think it probably has affected the overall health and immunity of these chicks. SIGH.

That brings me to my first question - now I am a little paranoid -how do I go back to trying to naturally expose them to our soil so they can get some natural immunities? They are all 2-3 weeks old. I lost one in the Bantam Brooder and one in the LF brooder so both have been on the Kocci Free. Now I am afraid they will all get it again.

And my second question - does anyone have a resource, online or elsewhere on EOs that are safe for chickens? I want to boost immunity. I have VetRx, but other than that I am searching online for individual oils and not sure how reliable the results are. I know that Tea Tree oil is toxic.

Thanks all have a great day!

 

[Leahs Mom]

@flyladyrocks

This is just my 2cents so take it for what it's worth.

In my understanding, EO's are medicine - just a different type. Herbs don't come in a concentrated oil extraction like an EO. So when I think about using EO's in any form, I'm thinking in terms of using them as a medicine rather than an immune booster. I think I have a short list of EO's that can be used safely with various animals but it will take awhile for me to find it.

Herbs in their natural form - growing or dried - are often used by animals in a wild setting. They do have healing properties and they don't destroy gut flora and natural balance. As such, they can be part of building the immune system while also acting as anti-biotic or anti--viral, etc.

That being said, there is a time for medications if you want to treat an injury, etc.



It seems that @armorfirelady may have had something that treated cocci that was natural but I may be mistaking that. It it was her, maybe she'll chime in.


If I was going to try to expose them to your area now that they are older, I think I'd just start with a scant hand-full of litter from the regular chicken house mixed in with their litter. And the sod plug from your yard in an area that the chickens have been on.

But since you know that they have an issue, I'd do it slowly and watch carefully.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Just stopping in to say that I'm going to be away from the computer for at least a couple weeks. If anyone wants to reach me, I think I'll still be able to get personal messages.