PLEASE HELP ( Baby Silkie Chicks ) Pasty crusty butts

[fiero1967]

I am losing alot of my chicks, their butts keep getting plugged by pasty, crusty poo, What am I doing wrong? How Do I prevent it? I tried to wash their butts and get it off but still end up losing them. PLEASE HELP!!!!! I am soooo Frustrated!!!

 

[fjorddreamer]

Just remain diligent about washing off their butts. I actually brought mine in the house and ran their backsides under warm water until it all came off. Then I towel dried them and even blew them dry with a hairdryer before putting them back in the brooder. I have never lost a chick because of pasty butt. I believe I have read that you can put Vaseline on their butt to help keep them from pasting up again. In my experience usually they stayed clean and the same ones didn' need to be done again. Keep at it. Perhaps, though, you have something else going on, if you are losing them!!

Maybe someone else have more ideas of what else could be wrong?

 

[purpletree23]

It is very important to keep their butts clean. What happens is that they become clogged up and die because they can't poop. Soak them in warm water, gently remove the poop, don't pull because it can cause their intestines to pull out. You can try putting vaseline on their butts so the poop doesn't stick so easily.

Now you have to find out why they have poopy butts. What are you feeding them and how old are they? What is the temp of the brooder?

The most common cause of pasty butt is not enough food and the temp being too hot. Place the food and water a little ways away from the brooder light so the chicks don't get overheated while trying to drink and eat. This will cause them to stop eating and drinking. Make sure they have enough room so that if they get too hot they can get away from the light and if chilled they can get closer.

What are you feeding them? Right now it should be medicated crumbles. No pellets. No treats. One BYCer was loosing chicks because she was giving them tomato seeds and they couldn't digest them.

 

[wlrcad]

'i had this same prob... use a Qtip an everyday scrub gently with olive oil and warm H2o

 

[astatula]

You may need to get your hands a little dirty but make sure you don't leave a little plug in their butt. Sometimes when you are successful at getting ALL of the dry poop out you get shot with what's stuck inside as well.

It's just a squirt of chick poop and you can wash your hands/shirt/arms, whatever it hits.

Watch the humidity if you live in Arizona or New Mexico, they will dry up very fast and you want it to slide out not dry in place.

 

[KristaChickenWhisperer]

I had the same issue with my silkie chicks. I ended up having to wash and remove the poo everyday. Sometimes some of the fluff came off with it if it was stuck on well enough, but warm water should loosen is up enough to prevent that. I felt bad but it cleared their vent are so they could poop.

Poor little guys have the worst problems with dirty butts.

 

[teach1rusl]

Can I add a question to those of you who write of washing it off w/warm water?? One of my chicks had hard dried poop on it, not covering the vent yet, but I was worried that it would keep building up until it DID block it. I tried holding the little girl's butt under warm water, and even had my husband rub on a mild soap, and I worked at it for about two minutes, but I still didn't get it all...That dried stuff is horrible to get off. Is there a "trick" to it that I'm not aware of????

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

It needs time to soften. Try wetting a paper towel or washcloth with HOT water (it cools quickly) and holding it against the baby's bottom for 5 or 10 minutes. You may have to re-wet the cloth with warmer water a time or two. If you hold the baby cupped in your hands it shouldn't get too cold.

 

[PeepsInc]

I soak a paper towel with warm water ,& gently squeeze the dried poo. It takes a few minutes,but it pops rite off once their fuzz gets soaked. I didn't have this problem when feeding chick starter mash. It seemed to have alot of corn in it. I think that helped them. They seem to get more from the crumble but there poo is smaller & dryer.

 

[1-duckling]

I imagine all the fuzz of silkies holds that poo pretty good. I was told by a coworker years ago to add about 10% organic cornmeal to the baby food right from the start to avoid the pasty butt and avoid any stressful situations for the chicks. Haven't had much of a problem at all using this method. The only ones I hatched that I had to persistently watch for stuck on poo were two chicks among the RIR. With those it was a hot, wet paper towel to the poo until the poo was soft enough to come off using my fingernails and gentle scraping. On one I finally got out the safety scissors and cut the poo into chunks so it would finally absorb enough water to come off. They have to be checked and dealt with every single day until it clears up. Keep them clean and they'll be fine.