Our
chicks came from the hatchery with
pasty butt — poop adhering to the feathers around their vents.
This photo seems to be the best shot I got, but many had much bigger
wads of poop.
Depending on who you
talk to, pasty butt is either a life threatening condition or is merely
a symptom of stressed birds. If you believe the former, you will
carefully pick the poop off the feathers of your birds to prevent the
feces backing up inside the chick. Some folks go so far as to
clean out the actual anus of the bird with a pin.
I’m still a beginner
when it comes to chick care, so I at first I tried to remove the poop
from our tiny chicks’ behinds. But the birds were clearly
traumatized by the experience, and I really couldn’t get the poop off
without hurting them. After considerable squawking from the
chicks, I decided to take a more laid back approach, waiting to see
what would happen if I left the chicks alone. Except for two
chicks who died on the first day due to stress in transit, all of our
chicks came through fine and didn’t seem harmed by pasty butt.
The symptoms subsided on their own after a couple of weeks.
What has your experience
with pasty butt been? I’d be curious to hear if anyone else let
nature take its course with good (or bad) results.
diarrhea well hyrated. Our homemade chicken
waterer ensures that your chicks have access to
clean water at all times.
I’m with you. I only clean them up if it’s a significant build-up.
I have had to actually trim the feathers around the butts of my silkies, though, since they’re so fluffy.
I’m glad to hear that you take the easy route too. I felt a bit like a bad caretaker, letting nature take its course, but those chickens did not want to be cleaned! And it didn’t seem to hurt them, despite the huge number of folks with scare stories on the internet.
My husband taught me that bran is the best medicine for pasty butt. their insides are too delicate to mess with yada yada-been there killed that in the name of good intention. Hubby came home with bran that they use for horses, mixed it with water and we have not lost a baby since
Thanks for the great idea! Bran it is when the next pasty butt strikes!
My family owns 16 chickens (2 roosters and 14 hens) most of them have pasty butt. We tried to get it off with a wet rag. We tried to dunk their bottoms into the water. Nothing can get it off. We are affraid of our chicks dieing but we can’t get the pasty butt away from our chicks. They have had it for 2-3 days. I hope we can fix this problem before it is too late. If you can help me please do.
I’m pretty sure that in adult chickens, it’s not called pasty butt any more and is instead diarrhea. One of our hens had low-grade diarrhea this winter, and it doesn’t seem to be any more serious than humans having a cold. Giving her more sun and fresh food cleared up the problem in a few weeks. Worms and chickweed are great chicken pick-me-ups at this time of year!