Pasty Butt

[Sue]

In a couple of months it will be Chick Days again. Time to pre-order chicks from the Co-op.

Last year was our first experience raising meat birds. Surprise! We ran into a problem with two of the chicks called pasty butt. I wrote on my blog about what we did to save the little guys. If anyone is interested in raising poultry or is planning to, I think this is helpful info.

When this happened to my birds I couldn't find very much help on line. So, I'm passing my experience on for anyone who wants to read about it. I hope it never happens to you, but here's the link just in case... http://thelittleacrethatcould.blogspot. ... hotos.html

Pasty butt ... nasty name, nasty business!

[farmgal]

Thanks for the info, i have been raising all kinds of chicks, pullets and duckings and to date have never had this issue, but always good to have when you need it.

[martha]

Thanks for that info. I never had experience with that problem, but I did have some chicks starting to show symptoms for coccidiosis. Commercial chick starter has a coccidostat medication in it, so I mixed my own starter to avoid the meds. Sure enough, some of them started to come down with it... I bought an ancient farm manual and it said to change the ph of their systems using vinegar, so I added some to their waterer regularly and everything cleared up nicely. Can't recall exactly what kind of vinegar and how much, but my guess would be that either regular or cider would do and maybe 2-4 Tbsp to the typical sized waterer for smallish flocks.

[OddDuck]

I hatch chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and have never seen pasty butt or cocci. I mix my own feed. No medications. The broody raised chicks never have problems either, so I am thinking the cause is in commercial feeds somehow.

[Sue]

Martha, your info is very helpful! Adding vinegar to the drinking water sounds so easy. Thank you so much for that. In the brain it goes to the knowledge base in case I need it

[Sue]

I hatch chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and have never seen pasty butt or cocci. I mix my own feed. No medications. The broody raised chicks never have problems either, so I am thinking the cause is in commercial feeds somehow.

You may have a point. I did feed medicated feed for the first bag before switching to organic. Or, it could have had something to do with the chick chowing down on beach sand. The others ate it at a reasonable rate, but that One sat in the sand box and ate and ate till he was stuffed with sand.

Do you grow your own feed OddDuck?

[OddDuck]

I hatch chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and have never seen pasty butt or cocci. I mix my own feed. No medications. The broody raised chicks never have problems either, so I am thinking the cause is in commercial feeds somehow.

You may have a point. I did feed medicated feed for the first bag before switching to organic. Or, it could have had something to do with the chick chowing down on beach sand. The others ate it at a reasonable rate, but that One sat in the sand box and ate and ate till he was stuffed with sand.

Do you grow your own feed OddDuck?

I read your post a bit more carefully, and I stupidly missed the comment about sand. Yes it does have something to do with the chick chowing down on beach sand. Sand is not a suitable bedding for brooding. I was wrong to suggest that commercial feed might be causing pasty butt. Medicated feed is not harmful; to use it or not, is simply a matter of organic status and a personal decision. If not using medicated (anti-cocci) feed then cleanliness is even more important. Sorry but I am a little sleep deprived today and I wrote a very poor post before which contained mis-information.

I use old towels for the first few days which are easily taken out and washed daily. After a few days, when the chicks are completely familiar with what real food is, they can be placed on clean pine shavings. The shavings should be changed regularly to avoid chicks eating their poop. Do not place chicks on newspapers or other slippery surfaces. Chicks will tear up wet newspaper and eat it. Not good either.

The brooders must be kept clean to avoid cocci and while apple cider vinegar is good for them it is not a cure for lack of good housekeeping. Also, chicks do need to be checked everyday to make sure the vent isn't plugged by debris. Something as simple as piece of shavings could plug the vent. Apple cider vinegar will not help a chick who is eating stuff it shouldn't have access to. I hatch several hundred chicks a year.

This is just meant to be a general information post on brooding and I may have missed some points. Hopefully others will fill in the blanks.

I don't grow my own feed although I am working towards that goal. Farmgal is way ahead on that one. I do source organically grown grain and do not use soy or corn. I grind my own mixes as all of my animals and poultry eat the same stuff, just in different sizes and protein content.