Week old chick chirping with bare butt

Ais

Songster
Apr 25, 2021
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I have 7 slightly over 1 week old chicks. One of them keeps chirping loudly and pecking at her butt. She doesn't appear to have pasty butt, however her butt is bare. At one point, it looked like she was trying to poo out something white, but it didn't finish coming out... hard to tell though because she was under the heat plate. The other chicks aren't seeming distressed at all, just her.
 

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Is she drinking enough? Maybe give her an epsom salt wading bath (don't let her drink just to relax her bottom) if she's constipated. You could give her a bit of yogurt to help digestion.
 
I have 7 slightly over 1 week old chicks. One of them keeps chirping loudly and pecking at her butt. She doesn't appear to have pasty butt, however her butt is bare. At one point, it looked like she was trying to poo out something white, but it didn't finish coming out... hard to tell though because she was under the heat plate. The other chicks aren't seeming distressed at all, just her.
She may be constipated.
I would give her about 1/2 tsp of chilled coconut oil. You can break it off in little pieces and put it in her beak to swallow.
I would avoid getting a 1 week old chick wet as she could quickly become chilled.
 
Thanks! I just gave her some coconut oil. Hopefully that helps...
 
She just pooped! Yay! Now to see if she stays calm or starts chirping again. Anything I can do to help the bare spot on her butt?
 
She just pooped! Yay! Now to see if she stays calm or starts chirping again. Anything I can do to help the bare spot on her butt?
Keep an eye on her as she may need coconut oil again. I would just give her 1/4 tsp again to be on the safe side.
Make sure she is drinking lots of water. You can also make a mash out of the chicks feed. They do make a bit of a mess in it but it ensures she's getting fluid. I would break it up every 2 hours or so as they mat it down and have a hard time scratching it up. I kept the trough up on a scrap piece of 2x6.
1 week olds.jpg

What is your heat source?
What type of waterer are you using?
I made a baby bottle out of a $0.75 thrift store sports bottle with a flip top (to prevent vacuum) and a built in loop in the screw top into which I could insert an S-hook to suspend the bottle from a chain. I inserted a vertical poultry nipple in the bottom and made sure it didn't leak before putting it in with the chicks.
baby bottle close up.png
babies using bottle.jpg

The bare spot will fill it as she molts in her feathers. She's likely been pulling at the fluff herself because of constipation discomfort.
 
When I had a case of persistent pasty butt I was advised to give the chick some probiotics.

Since I couldn't get to the farm store before it closed but work in a grocery store I got some active-culture PLAIN yogurt and mixed a dab into the wet mash.

I can't know for sure, but I think it helped.
 
When I had a case of persistent pasty butt I was advised to give the chick some probiotics.

Since I couldn't get to the farm store before it closed but work in a grocery store I got some active-culture PLAIN yogurt and mixed a dab into the wet mash.

I can't know for sure, but I think it helped.
That's good to know. Does yogurt work for constipation too? Her vent is completely clear. Just got home from work but she is acting normal and my husband said she hasn't made any unhappy chirps today, so I'm thinking/hoping the coconut oil worked.
 
That's good to know. Does yogurt work for constipation too? Her vent is completely clear. Just got home from work but she is acting normal and my husband said she hasn't made any unhappy chirps today, so I'm thinking/hoping the coconut oil worked.

I can't say for sure.

Probiotics are generally good for intestinal health.
 

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