Week old chick with poop pasted butt.

[kellbellsa]

We just got our shipment of chicks this week. The smallest one had a but pasted with poop. She is now acting blind and stumbling into everything. I separated her from the rest, but I noticed a few others have poop starting to collect on them. Any ideas of what to do?

 

[justplainbatty]

We just got our shipment of chicks this week. The smallest one had a but pasted with poop. She is now acting blind and stumbling into everything. I separated her from the rest, but I noticed a few others have poop starting to collect on them. Any ideas of what to do?

Hello, make sure chicks are drinking and that their water is clean. Do they have a place cooler than 90* to move to if they are hot? You can feed them a wet mash of their food to add more water to their intake. Wash all pasty butts gently, make sure vents are clean and clear. I'm not sure what is going on with the one, but if you go to grab her and she runs, she is not blind. Check her for mushy naval even though she should be past that now. Add some vitamins to their water, she may have a vitamin deficiency that is affecting her neurologically. Have your chicks been vaccinated for Mareks? That's about all I can think of to help at the moment.

 

[kellbellsa]

Well, I think she just died. The others are acting ok besides the poop issue. I gave them all a little soak in the sink yesterday, but that stuff didn't want to go anywhere. It is pretty hard. Any tips on that? The little one had it pretty bad and it came on quick. I got them on mail order, so I'm not sure about vaccines. How and where would I do that? Can you do them on your own? They are only a week old.

 

[kellbellsa]

Oh, and yes, there is plenty of water. The light is kind of low, but it is pretty drafty in the room. They seem to want to stay under the light rather than on the perimeter of the trough that they are in so I assume that it's now too hot.

 

[justplainbatty]

Oh, and yes, there is plenty of water. The light is kind of low, but it is pretty drafty in the room. They seem to want to stay under the light rather than on the perimeter of the trough that they are in so I assume that it's now too hot.

Well, you really need a thermometer on the floor of the brooder. It should be around 90* under the light and 70 or 75* around the edges. Drafts around the brooder is not good, block it somehow. There was something wrong with the one, sorry you lost her. You may have to wet and pick the poop off of them, either with q tips or your fingers. Don't worry if it pulls the down off, that will grow back, blocked vents kill.
Put a little vasaline on the clean vents to help prevent poop sticking.

 

[MIghtyClucks]

I hope all is well and that you have been able to help the little chicks, but...

They really need to be in a draft-free area. Their tiny systems are too sensitive to handle drafts and chills.
When a couple of mine had "pasty-butts" I filled a small tupperware container with lukewarm water, dunked just their butts for a minute, then GENTLY wiped away the poo with a clean rag or Q-Tip. It will kill them if it is not wiped away. You may want to pat their butt dry so that they don't get the chills.

Again, best of luck and I really hope that they're doing better.

 

[Chickenhawk87]

I had one of my chicks with pasty butt last wk she was a runt & sickly. I came to this thread to to learn about this condition & found a few remedies. The one I used that a BYC member recommend was to take a pair of small scissors & cut the feathers around the vent (hold them upside down) Know sooner than I put her down she poo a big one.(lol) Now she's happy & all most as big as the other chicks.