What is pasty butt?
When you’ve got young newly hatched chicks, anywhere from three days to about a week old
It’s a condition that you might see where the poop on the little vent on their butt, dries
It sticks there and dries, and that can become a problem
If it seals off their vent and they aren’t able to go to the bathroom, then it can actually be fatal
Because they aren’t able to excrete their waste
Typically this happens during the first week or so
After that, the problem goes away
What causes it?
It could be stress
Or if they’re too cold, or if they’re too hot
When you put the heat lamp in your brooder cage or your brooder box, make sure you’ve got a thermometer in there so that you can monitor the temperature is appropriate
And that they’ve got room to move away from that heat
If they’re too warm, they will move away on their own
Improper diet can cause it
Chicks only need to have chick starter
They don’t need any treats, they shouldn’t be getting human food
Their little systems aren’t quite developed enough yet to handle those kind of things
It can cause diarrhea and Pasty Butt
What is the treatment for it?
The first thing you do is grab them up one by one …
Take them into a sink, use warm water, not too hot because you don’t want to scald them
Soften the dried poop to get it off their butt
It is water soluble, it’ll come off just with some warm water, rub it just a little bit
Once you get all the poop off, then use the blow dryer and blow their little butt dry
You don’t want them to catch a chill
After you blow them dry, you can put some petroleum on their vent
The petroleum is a little slick and the poop should slide down and not actually stick to their vent
How do you prevent it in the first place?
Make sure you’ve got a proper temperature in your brooder box
Chicks start out at 95 degrees, and then every few days you can drop it down 5 degrees until you get them down to about 75 degrees
By then they’re getting their feathers and they can self-regulate their temperature
You can put probiotics in their water
They make probiotics just for chicks
If you’re going to use it, make sure you get the one for chicks and not the one for adults
Make sure you’re only feeding them chick starter
It’s special formulated for their sensitive little digestive systems
Don’t give them any human food, any treats like you would your adult girls, until they are in the adult flock
As always, if you have any questions about this please message me
Remember … Be The Organic U – Feed Your Soul
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