One of our chick's (Sarah) has been having
problems going to the bathroom for the past couple of weeks. She has what is
known as "Pasty Butt".
What
is Pasty Butt?
Chickens only have one hole called a “Vent”
or “Cloaca” of a chicken which is used for laying eggs, pooping, urinating and
mating. Their vent can become clogged
and in nature the mother hen will keep her chicks’ vent clear but since humans
raise chicks they can end up with “pasty butt.”
I have read that this can happen while being shipped, dehydration, and some
say that it could be due to stress.
Pasty butt can prevent a chick from going to the bathroom and the poop
can back up into their system and cause infections and even death. It is extremely important to keep an eye on
all your chicks and take care of the problem immediately.
Sarah’s
Symptoms and Care
Sarah has been going to the bathroom but she
has been struggling, she seems to be constipated. She will get the poop half way out and after
some painful chirping and feather fluffing she eventually gets it out. Her vent was swollen, red, and pulsating. We have tried several ways to help her but I
think we finally found something that works.
We give her daily lukewarm baths in the sink. She doesn’t put up a fight she actually seems
somewhat relieved. She will stand there
for a while and every so often will start floating to the side when she falls
asleep and scares herself awake. After
the warm bath we make sure her bottom is clean and wrap her in a hand towel and
hold her until she’s completely dry.
Making sure she is dry is important because they can get a chill and get
sick. After the bath and sometimes while
we are holding her we give some olive oil in a dropper. We started out with plain yogurt but it did
not seem to help her. We gently rub the
dropper along the side of her beak until on her owns she swallows it. The olive oil seemed to have helped a bit but
she was still having problems. We
purchased mineral oil and switched to that instead of the olive oil. We also bought some preparation-h to help her
swollen bottom. Originally we would rub
olive oil on her bottom to help her with no results.
Yesterday we went out to buy a second heating
lamp, feeder, and waterer and put Sarah in her own brooder. Since her bottom did not seem to be looking better we suspect
the other birds were picking at her bottom.
We also purchased Rooster Booster to put on her bottom. Now,
since she has her own waterer we
put a little extra electrolytes (Quik Chik) in her water and in a separate small
container I put a little bit of her food
mixed in with a tiny bit of olive oil and water in it. She seems to like it once she finds it in her
brooder.
Today Sarah seems to be doing a lot better
and hopefully continues to get better until it’s all gone. Funny, but I’ve gotten quite attached to
these little chicks and losing one would suck!!
Image by: Back Yard Farming
Image by: Back Yard Farming
Image by: Back Yard Farming
Image by: Back Yard Farming
I hope this helps, let me know. J
References:
Pet Chicken
The Pampered Pullets Farm
