WHAT WILL FIX PASTY BUTT???

[dave3877]

removing the poop is the first thing you do and watching a min because usually they will make another nasty lil mess. after that clean them up and give them good clean water and a little food. keep them quarantined while doing this but i promise it works great for me. i rarely lose birds to pasty butt when it happens. my killer this year has been a good ol' record texas heat wave that has killed about 15 birds so far even with copius amounts of water in their pen

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:

So you're feeding kale leaves to 3 day old babies? And recommending that? Is that what you're saying?

Kale, yes. But, lets not get all hyper-active here... "Leap ye not out of context."
These are chickens, not Lady Astor's Baby.

What I do is offer something that works. Either I've tried it myself, or I know it's been proven over long decades of use.
I know it's not the usual stuff the 'experts' tell us, and maybe it's even a little boring. But the things that work often are.

Worried about kale? Okay. But read on, dear friends.

Watch a hen and her chicks in the yard. For the first few days, the chickies hang out under mothers wing, get their strength up and live off the yolk reserves in their body. After they are stoutly on their feet, the hen begins squiring them about in the world. She shows them the seeds, the succulent grasses and the occasional soft bug that is good eating.

Keep in mind that chicks are supposed to hatch in the spring, when everything is juicy and yummy.

But that hen rarely lingers in one spot, keeping them moving. The result is they cannot eat too much of any one thing. Soon, she scoots back to her nest, plops down and everyone naps, like all babes should.
That is their beginning.

Remember the key concept I used, "ease them in..." Put that on a banner above their brooder.

If you'll recall, I feed only water for the first three days. That's important. You can add a little Gatorade, or some special purpose "electrolyte" if you want. But I hardly bother anymore. I might add a little honey or sugar on day one, if they are shipped chicks or had a hard hatch. The goal is to hydrate them. Remember that yolk, right?

Then, I let them relax and get settled. I don't endlessly peer at them, lifting the lid and showing them off to the dog or the kids - I leave them alone to bask in the warm red glow of the heat lamp. Birthing is stressful, after all.

Then, after the 3rd day, I start them on finely milled oatmeal, hard boiled egg and a BIT of green feed. I avoid soy-based feeds altogether for the first 5-7 days.

Now, when I say a "bit" of green feed, I'm talking a few shreds. I don't hang a head of borecole in their brooder and expect them to forage on that!

But I observe them. I let THEM tell me when they are ready to eat real food by giving them a little, and then watching their actions. Keep it light and nourishing.

For greens, kale will do, yes. It's course, but wont hurt 'em. However, succulent grass tips, a Cos-type lettuce or maybe beet or carrot tops are better. Just go out to the spring garden and snag a few bits.

After the first 5 days or so, I wean them onto chick starter by giving a little of it at feedings. Within a week they are on full starter and the feeder is in the brooder full time. Again, I watch them and let them tell me when they are ready.

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Let me confess something here, if I may: I do not endlessly study every nuance of poultry nutrition.

I don't have time. I wouldn't know a pro-biotic bacterium if it bit me on the arse. I also don't prowl the internet for every scrap of information on the subject. Fact is, I rarely go in search of "internet data" anymore. Frankly, I cannot absorb the information avalanche. I bow before those who can.

Instead, I spent many seasons in my childhood on a farm in Wisconsin. My information resources are the old poultry books, from back when people didn't know so much.
I have a shelf full of these, all originals, by men no one here has heard of - and I've listened to them. I'm a life subscriber to TMEN and I've listened to folks like Glenda and others for years, too. Those are my credentials, such as they are.

But none of that is relevant, except in abstract. Above all else, I've learned to relax around chickens. Like with human babies, if you ease them into life and emulate Nature, you can hardly hurt them.

It's my way... it doesn't have to be yours.​

 

[threehorses]

Yeah, I'd have to say that I'd have to go with the traditional feeds and I personally could never ever recommend feeds that usually take grit to digest and feed them. I mean honestly if you think about how it's done in nature, the chicks wouldn't be eating those feeds in nature either for the first three days in my opinion. They might, however, eat the dust and crumbles of their mom's food.

I'm glad it's worked for you, but for me I'll stick with recommended crumbles and a probiotic if someone has problems with pasty butt.

And as for molasses, yes - it's a flush. It actually can cause dehydration and is used to flush bacteria OUT of the system. At the delicate beginnings of the digestive tract of a chick, you don't want to flush out the good with the bad - you just want to ensure that the good takes hold quickly so that the most natural prevention of pasty butt ever can take hold: Good bacteria outnumbering bad anything. That's the way these birds were designed by whichever maker you choose. They are born, they have an instinct to peck at their mother (as they don't know what food is yet and pecking at her will lead them to food as they peck her beak and accidentally hit food). They also peck her droppings which, freshly dropped, are full of her own beneficial bacteria as well as a few bad. By doing this, the birds develop their own beneficial bacteria in their gut as good bacteria (like bad) colonize the gut once eaten and if given food. The good bacteria (like in the mother hen) outnumber the bad, they colonize, they ward off the bad bacteria, and nature has done her job.

In our coops we rarely raise ours with our hens. And of course we don't want to gather up droppings and feed them, do we? So instead I take the place of the mother hen and provide them good bacteria through a probiotic.

Simple. Natural. Effective.

 

[LillianMae]

so oats works? And I should trim the poo off and put olive oil on there butts? Sorry if I got this wrong lol. I have raised chickens my whole life and never encountered this problem except with this batch of chicks

 

[buddynva]

When I purchase new chicks or hatch them in the incubator, I line the brooder floor with old straw from my nesting boxes. I have not had a case of pasty butt since I started doing this.

 

[Citychicken12]

Do either of you have any advice on a chick with pasty butt. A momma hen is raising them. I have cleaned her butt twice every day and her vent looks fine. It's just sticking to her and won't fall to the ground without my help. I put chick electrolytes in their water and I've been trying to feed them protein. They have chick starter crumble as well. Also, is it okay if the mother hen drinks their water too? They are 6 days old
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[vicki5112]

I have a question, I have posted in another forum but I wanted to run it by y'all too. I have a 5-6 month old chicken that is having ribbon like stool for the past 3 days now. I'm a first time chicken farmer (with 2 whole chickens so far....lol) and I can see where bathing a chick might be a tad easier than bathing my larger chicken. If it is indeed pasty, then I should try somehow to get that area cleaned up & give her ACV in her water...how long should I add that to the water & is it OK for the other one to have that water too? I'm very worried about her now that it is the 3rd day. When they are out in the yard free ranging, both have pooped but they both have been loose or watery. Is there something else going on with them both do you think? I had cleaned out the coop & poop board last night so I could see what type I get overnight and there was normal & the ribbon like. All of the poop is normal looking in color, not runny or watery. I notice that I only have the loose stools when they are out free ranging in the yard. Do you think it's pasty or something else? Thanks & I apologize if I'm not in the right place to be asking this.

 

[vicki5112]

I meant to add that one of the group members thought it was pasty which is why I am repeating the question in this forum. Thanks.

 

[Christabelle]

I pull the blocked poo off instead of soaking (unless it seems too stuck to the skin, then I pluck them manually after I soak off the poo) It pulls all the fluff off around the vent, and I've never had it happen again to the same chick after I do this. I don't get it very often though (maybe one in 50?)I raise all my chicks with alfalfa for bedding, and they do eat the dried green leaves. I do this because I had a high chick mortality rate when I reared them on wood chips.

 

[casportpony]

Can you post a picture of the poop? Is there mucus or blood in it? If there is mucus or blood, I would be suspicious of coccidiosis.

-Kathy