Week-old chick possibly sick..

[hd_darcy]

HI,

I am new tot he board, and hope to get to know everyone more and post more later on. Firstoff, I have a question though. We have 1 week old baby silkies... three of them.. one of them has had poop stuck to its butt 4 times now in the past couple of days... I have rinsed the poop off and right away the chick pooped. However, today, he/she was stuck on his side chirping and kicking it's legs looking like 'it' was on his last leg..ugh.. I checked it, and sure enough, a clogged butt. I rinsed the butt and she/he seemed fine. About 6 hours later, the same thing again. Chick stuck on it's side chirping loudly.. Just a little bit of poop stuck on the butt. Once I washed it off, she/he did her duty and seems okay again. There does appear to be a slight size difference in the chicks too. This one seems a bit smaller. Her poop also didn't look very "runny" (sorry for the gross details). Could she not be drinking enough water?? Any idea what is going on??

Thank you in advance.. and if it makes a difference, their brooder is layered with wood chips.

Thank you!

Darcy

 

[sune42]

With my chicks I had one with a pasty butt, I would wash, it would come back. I think it just takes a bit sometimes. It might be that they are too hot. Is there space for them to get out of the heat lamp? Oh, another thing I did is very, very carefully trim the feathers around the vent on my hen with the most stubborn pasty butt, and that really helped. I think some people put a little olive oil around the vent, but I never needed to. Good luck!

 

[hd_darcy]

Thank you!!! The chick is only 7 days old, so there really is nothing to trim on the butt?? Just fuzz. It very well could be too hot in there, I will decrease the temp a bit, and try th olive oil next! Thank you. I'm happy to report the chick is doing fine this morning, but sure enough he/she needed cleaned up already..grr...

 

[sune42]

Good to hear she is doing better. When I said cut the feathers I meant the fuzz. Just be careful. My DH held the chick and I used those little scissors with the rounded ends that you use to cut baby's fingernails.

 

[hd_darcy]

I realized that afterwards about the feathers/fuzz

I was able to trim them down and then I "oiled" the vent. She is acting very lethargic now though, and yesterday I thought she was on her last leg. So happy to see her standing this morning. Anyway, I have read to use probiotics and also some apple cider vinegar. I hope to send my husband to pick some up today. Thank you for the help. This is a very busy forum! Wow.. So many questions that need answering for you "chicken-pros"

Darcy