When or how old do they stop?

[JULIE L CORWIN]

My chicks are pasting up. I have ACV in there water. I go out and change water daily .Plus I have Save A Chick probotics in package form.I f I add both to the water .Would that help them?. I go out daily and check for pasting. I have 17 chicks. I lowered the temp in the brooder and keep it low during the day. Sometimes running a 125 bulb or no light at all. But use a 250 bulb at night. It gets in low 50's at night. For the next 6 days it is suppose to be in low 50's at night. I have a thermometer in the coop. My question is when or what age do they stop pasting up? Not that I'm getting tired of checking there behinds. I was just wandering. I live in Ohio

 

[Ming Ming]

they should be goo in the next 2 weeks or so also make sure its 90 degrees in there

 

[lazy gardener]

Julie, how old are they? Often pasting is more of a problem if the chicks are kept too warm. What are the temps during the day, and at night in the warm and in the cool end of the brooder? IMO, you should not need the 250W bulb, even at night.

 

[chickens really]

Getting too cold causes pasty butt...Not too warm....

 

[paneubert]

Getting too cold causes pasty butt...Not too warm....

From all my reading, it is actually both! Haha. Cold causes it, but so does heat. It seems about 75% say it is heat, 25% say cold. Seems anything outside the "Goldilocks zone" can cause it.

 

[chickens really]

Too many opinions...

 

[azygous]

Usually after the first two weeks, pasty butt should no longer be an issue.

That's a generalization, of course.

Where do you have the thermometer when you measure the brooder temp? The only spot the temperature should be of concern is directly beneath the heat source. The rest of the brooder should be much cooler.

The first week, chicks need a heat source between 80F and 90F. If the ambient temp is quite warm, say 70F, you need to take the heat source to the low end of the range. At night, if the temp is 50F or below, then 85F-90F would be called for.

By the time your chicks are three weeks old, they can be quite comfortable during the day with no heat source when it's between 60 and 70F. At night, they will need a bit of heat but not as much as the first couple weeks.

You are, practically speaking, weaning them off heat from the first week, so by the time they're four or five weeks old, they will no longer require a heat source.