I am just wondering what causes this with 'new' chicks?
I have a few that are about a week old and just noticed a couple have started getting pasty butts..what could cause it?
brooder is clean, water & food are both fine also & i cleaned & sterelized the plastic feeding dishes before using them.
its not your fault, from what i read on mother earth news , its from the chicks being cold maybe that happens in shipping or what ever, but when the chicks arrive they need some warm water, not cold tap water , so this pasty butt thing is like a chill to the intestines, and more cold wont help them thats why ,i use warm brooder temp water , when they arrive & i keep them at the right temp, or if need be even a bit higher heat, but 2 heat zones is best so they can go to their own comfort zones to relax , on first day i mix water with the starter feed until it becomes a gruel , like what is fed to human babies, and in the water i add a bit of electrolites vitamins & probiotics and vitamins plus sugar on the first day , but then after that i add agave syrup to the water mix, which is better, so they eat both the wet food mix & dry food to and i watch them closely so they get all the heat of cool they need & watching them all the time and adjusting the heat of cool night and day by their reactions ,mine all just pass out all alone with no huddling & no panting and they sleep well for the first week i like to keep them quite with out stress, , but after 8 days they are running around like crazy and trying to jump and fly ...lol..... and no pasty butts this year or last , but come to think of it , i never saw pasty butt on my hen raised chicks, i feel that may be becasue the hen never lets them get a bad chill , so even when they drink colder water out side ,they usually go right back under the hen and it must be really warm under there and so hen raised chicks are better off & they stay well, and are stronger in the long run . so from now on after buying our original breed stock , all our chicks will be hen raise.
