To wipe her butt or not?

[washxc]

I have some one week old buff orpington chicks running around the brooder right now and one of the girls has some poop built up on her butt. This morning I took her out and held a warm wash cloth on her but it wouldn't come off so I set her down to think of a plan B and as soon as she was back in the brooder she reared back and pushed out a poop. It was almost like she was telling me that she was cool, no intervention necessary. So is there an acceptable level of poopy butt before it becomes a problem?

I know, I was shaking my head and chuckling as I wrote this...

 

[teach1rusl]

I had one of those as a chick...wasn't blocking the vent, but was growing a little larger with each runnyish poo...lol. We carefully clipped the gobby build-up off w/sharp scissors...triimmed a bunch of her butt fuzz while we were at it, and it stayed nice for a long time. Six months later, and we did the same thing to the same hen/pullet just last weekend. Don't know what it was/is about her that causes her cling-on build-ups??

 

[Keri78]

I guess as long as they can poo they will be fine...but for me I liked them to have clean heiny's!!!

So if they got poo I would just rinse their bums off under wurm running wuter.

 

[Carpe DiHen]

You should search on "Pasty Butt". You will find lots of suggestions. It can be a serious problem.

 

[catdaddy66]

I would wipe her butt regardless of her ability to poo. As long as she is not constipated she is ok, but probably would be more comfy poo-free. I slowly pinch the paste to help the water penetrate and soften it prior to working it loose. A great suggestion I heard here on BYC was to clip the butt feathers closely and this seems to be less stressful, I would imagine. Good luck to you and the little BO!!

 

[washxc]

Thanks for all your input, I appreciate it. I would rather not stress her out and let nature help her along naturally, but I'm concerned because she just doesn't seem to be moving around a whole lot. At the moment she's tucked into the corner nodding off and I'm a little worried that she's not doing so well. Incidentally, she's also quite a bit smaller at one week than the other chick....


I think I'm going to clean her off in a little while and see if that helps her spirits.

 

[dchickenman]

Best to keep it clean now, than do what I had to do this morning!

We have 4 barred rock & 2 rhode island red pullets, just a few days old. Yesterday my daughter told me the smallest BR had poop stuck to its butt, and wasn't moving around much. This morning I checked it out, looked like the poor thing was totally blocked up. So I did some quick reading on BYC then headed out to the shed with a little container of warm water & an old towel. Soaked the hind end of the chick for about 15 minutes (NOT an easy task, I can tell you) till the poop softened & came off. Dried the chick as best I could & put it down on the litter right under the brooder lamp. I thought it was a goner- wouldn't move at all, just laid there barely breathing, eyes closed. I thought maybe I was too rough, or maybe it had just been constipated for too long. Either way, when I left the shed I thought for sure I'd be buying a replacement later today. But I figured, at least I tried.

Went back out to check on it 20 minutes ago, to find the chick up & walking around with the rest of them! Even saw it eat & drink a little. I'm SO relieved that I don't have to give my 11 year old daughter bad news!

Point is, I wish I'd taken care of this yesterday, as soon as I found out about it. Probably would have been easier. All chicks I buy in the future WILL be checked for signs of "pasting". Easier to wipe a little bit now than wait till it's a bigger problem, as in my case

 

[Fluffy Chick 15]

Someone on here, don't remember who, mentioned smearing a little vaseline around the area after its nicely cleaned to help keep the poo from sticking to it, sounds like a good idea to me, I plan to try it next time I have to clean a bum-bum.

 

[cheshie]

I feel like the most horrible new mom right now. I just went to check on my three day old pullets and found that one had a pasty butt. I picked her up and gently placed a warm towel on her hind end, but that didn't seem to do much of anything. Since that wasn't working I decided to gently pull the poo to see if I could remove it. Apparently I pulled too hard and I yanked the dear little girl's fuzz off of her butt.

I really didn't mean to pull hard, but she yelped and I cried, and now I am terrified that I have scarred her for life...either emotionally or physically.

I am simply beside myself and don't know what to do because I feel so guilty. Lesson learned, don't EVER pull, only wipe, soak or rub very gently. *Cry* I hope my precious little baby will be okay!

 

[ksl42]

When I have young chicks with pasty butt, I take them to the sink, run warm water (not hot!) and hold their back ends under the running water until that lump of poop comes off. I'll gently crush it if necessary to get the water into the clump to soften it so it will disinegrate and fall off. Be very careful not to pull if it's still too tightly attached as you could pull out feathers, or worse yet, tear their delicate skin. I blot off the excess water on their behinds and put them back in their brooder with the heat lamp on and they dry nicely and don't have any more problems. Always keep an eye out for pasty butt on young chicks. Usually after the chicks are two weeks old, I don't have any more problems with it.

Of course when you are done, sanitize the sink and your hands!