What’s up with this butt?

[MochaChickMama]

I’ve looked through so many threads my head is spinning. I can’t seem to find something that’s this exact situation and I’m hoping to put my mind at ease. Total newbie, with our first set of 8 chicks. They have all done super well and will be 3/2.5 weeks old respectively tomorrow. Quack, so named by the 4 year old had, what I assumed was pasty butt a few days ago. We were outside and her backside was just swollen and so prominent. I couldn’t actually see any poop on her though. See the first pic for where we started. I took her out the next day for some solo observation and she didn’t poop at all the whole time. It also looked much worse. After reading here I did probiotics, wiped her often with warm water, fed her some coconut oil and have been applying Vaseline as I did see that she and the others were pecking at her back side. The last pics are from yesterday. It looks much better, no longer red, she’s eating/pooping normally. Yet it’s still so prominent and I’m not sure if I should still be concerned? Is it just the missing feathers? Should I do anything else? I’ve read about prolapse, is this that? She seems totally happy and runs all over with everyone. Thanks in advance for any input!

First day (Monday)

Next Day- (Tuesday) here’s where I think it became clear it was pasty butt as I saw that speck on her vent and everything just looked awful. At times it was super red all along the top of her.

Yesterday-

 

[azygous]

You should be commended for your attentiveness to your chicks. You've done well Grasshopper.

You can know your chick is happy and healthy when it is eating, pooping, and running around with its friends.

You can know your chick has a health issue when it slows down and becomes lethargic, isn't interested in eating or running and playing, and if it strains to poop while chirping loudly.

If your chick continues to have an inflamed and swollen vent, a little hydrocortisone cream will heal it.

 

[MochaChickMama]

Thank you so much for your kind words. I will grab some cream to have on hand!

 

[blackandtan]

It looks like a normal bum to me?
I don’t see any excess redness or swelling, their skin does get reddened and irritated when it is bare of feathers.
Unless the other chickens are picking at it (and they might) I’d leave it alone. If they do pick, there are creams like stop-pick that you can put on to help it heal and make it taste bad, but I’ve had the best luck with blu-kote, which is a spray on antiseptic, so it helps heal wounds, but also colours it dark blue so the other birds won’t see a dark speck on a pale bottom and peck at it.

 

[MochaChickMama]

It looks like a normal bum to me?
I don’t see any excess redness or swelling, their skin does get reddened and irritated when it is bare of feathers.
Unless the other chickens are picking at it (and they might) I’d leave it alone. If they do pick, there are creams like stop-pick that you can put on to help it heal and make it taste bad, but I’ve had the best luck with blu-kote, which is a spray on antiseptic, so it helps heal wounds, but also colours it dark blue so the other birds won’t see a dark speck on a pale bottom and peck at it.

Thanks! Since no one else of the 8 looked like this, there are 2 more of the same breed, and she was being picked at, I was concerned. It seemed like she was in pain on Tuesday. When we spent a good 10 minutes running around and she didn’t poop I freaked out lol! They poop constantly.The Vaseline, I read supposedly tastes bad and prevents pecking, and I think that it’s working. I’ll keep the blu-kote in mind!

Do you happen to know what would cause her to be so bare? She’s an ISA brown.

 

[blackandtan]

Her buddies have pulled and eaten her feathers most likely. There’s always one that gets picked on....
They love eating feathers and once they start it’s hard to stop.
More protein in the feed will help, especially as a treat, tuna, boiled egg, cottage cheese. Then cover the problem area with something that tastes bad or that masks the area like the blu-kote. Once the habit is broken the feathers will grow back, she’ll have a fluff butt again!

 

[MochaChickMama]

Her buddies have pulled and eaten her feathers most likely. There’s always one that gets picked on....
They love eating feathers and once they start it’s hard to stop.
More protein in the feed will help, especially as a treat, tuna, boiled egg, cottage cheese. Then cover the problem area with something that tastes bad or that masks the area like the blu-kote. Once the habit is broken the feathers will grow back, she’ll have a fluff butt again!

I feel so bad for her! Gosh it’s a rough world I guess! Thank you for the info, I’m glad you said that. I wasn’t sure if they could have any treats yet. We just got new feed that has 20% protein vs the 19 we had before. Im actually wondering if they may be a tad older than I thought. Im only guessing their age based on how long we have had them.The feathers are coming in pretty thick already. Im pretty amazed at the rapid change! I’m sure the kids will love to give them treats, we’ll do that too! I can now stop worrying about her poor bum lol.

 

[blackandtan]

Yah when I looked back at your first post and you said 2.5 weeks, I was surprised, she definitely seems older. Good luck with them, enjoy!

 

[MochaChickMama]

Yah when I looked back at your first post and you said 2.5 weeks, I was surprised, she definitely seems older. Good luck with them, enjoy!

We got them from TSC March 29. So they’ll have been home with us 3 weeks now. I didn’t ask how old they were at the store, any idea how old she might be? I had to put notes on the pictures now, as I can’t tell them apart very well This was the whole crew after we had them a week. The 4 non brown we got a couple days after the first and they seem to be a good week behind development wise at least. The EE (I think?) and Asian Black (again I think lol) are so bitty in comparison. We warned the kids names are subject to change if roosters appear lol!

Here’s Cookie now..two ish weeks?