Raising chicks is enjoyable to see something grow. Their first week, they are the cutest, being so fresh with life. In the first week, be aware that the chicks can lose their life easily. The one problem during this time that I have seen through multiple years, whether from buying from a local store or ordering from a hatchery, is chicks having poop on their butt.
This is called pasty butt, which is where chicks have poop that has dried on their butt, closing off their vent. The feces dry onto their down feathers beside their vent. It acts as a cork to where nothing can pass by. It can kill the chick, but is also easy to fix if caught.
Cleaning the vent can save the chicks life. It may be nerve-wracking dealing with this the first time, but there are steps to take to keep the chick alive, not kill it in the process, and prevent it from happening again.
What Not to Do with a Chick with Pasted Vent?
First, do not remove a chick for a long time from the warmth of the brooder box. Chicks cannot regulate their heat on their own. Keeping it away from heat can kill the chick.
Secondly, a baby chick cannot have water saturate their feathers, even warm water or even just the bottom side. It will chill them down too much.
Lastly, do not just try pulling the dried poop from the vent or feathers with just a dry cloth or paper towel.
Steps to Treat Pasty Butt in Chicks
Here is what to do for chicks that have poop on their butt that is clogged their vent.
- Gather supplies of Q-tips, small amount of olive oil or vegetable oil, warm water, and small scissors
- Grab chick, keeping it near its brooder box.
- Dip Q-tip into warm water. Clean the feces away from the chick’s vent. Only apply water around the vent
- Dip Q-tip into food safe oil to apply and prevent further clogging
- For stubborn feces, use a pair of small scissors to carefully trim away the feathers with the dried on feces. Be careful not to cut the skin. Get the blades underneath the small feathers and make many small cuts until the dried feces is removed.
- Place back under heat lamp to keep chick warm.
- Keep an eye on the progress of the chick to make sure it doesn’t come back.
The Chick Poops
One good sign to look out for chicks that have had poop on its butt is that after you clean them up, they poop.
That means their waste is now able to efficiently move from their body to the bedding below. It is not getting clogged. Everything can now pass.
This happened to me with one of my chicks. It had a lot of dried feces on its rear. Its little vent was even swelled up just a little bit. The vent was moving to where it was trying to get rid of all the dried feces around it. Now, I’ve seen worse than this, but I was still worried about this chick.
What a Blessing!
As a steward to God and His Earth, I want to help these chicks as much as possible. Yes, these are meat birds, so my intention is to raise, butcher, and cook meals with them. But while they are growing, I want to take good care of them in service of God’s Creation.
If one chick is sick, my heart sinks, but I want to take care of it to make it better to live. Life is a blessing. I had such anxieties and apprehensions seeing two chicks with dried feces near their vent. The one was okay and just need a little bit removed. This other one, uhh, I didn’t know what would happen with it.
I was ready for the possibility that even if I did my best to take care of it, it could die.
I finished cleaning its rear, placed it back into the brooder box, and watched it for a few seconds. The chick joined the other ones underneath the heat lamp, stayed standing, and let out a load full of baby chicken poop on some new bedding.
Most of the time poop on bedding that hasn’t even been placed down for more than a few seconds is beyond irritating. With this little bird, it showed me that its vent was cleared, and that it was going to be okay.
And it was.
Three Ways to Prevent Pasted Vent in Baby Chicks
After cleaning up a chick, saving its life, there are things that can be done to ensure that the chick does not get pasty butt once again.
One way is to provide clean, room temperature water. Cold water can lead to pasty butt. With water with feces droppings or feed, it can cross contaminate bacteria to the chicks. A couple of times per day, check and change their water.
A second preventive method is to add apple cider vinegar to their water. Combine one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to one quart of room temperature water. The small waterers for chicks are one quart. A teaspoon is a very, very small amount. Think about when a person would drink too much fresh apple cider at one time. It is going to get things a flowing down there.
The last way to prevent pasted vent is to provide fresh bedding to them a couple of times per day. They shouldn’t be laying or sitting in their feces.
A Week Later
The first week of a chick’s life is usually when they are most susceptible to having pasty butt. Keep an eye out even a week after they have pasty butt. The chicks are still small, even though they are growing.
Sometimes the vent isn’t clogged, but could start with the buildup of feces. It is still a good idea to clean it up before the vent is pasted.
Once my Cornish Cross chicks were a week old, two of them had feces on their rear. Neither was blocking their vent, but I didn’t want to see more build up. Cleaned them up and their doing great.
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