# Chicks, grit, and pasty butt ADVICE PLEASE



## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

Okay, I've never had chickens and keep getting different advice depending on the source.

I got 27 babies yesterday, 13 barred rocks and 14 buff orp. They are eating DuMor 20% chick starter, and my girls got the chicks a bag of dried meal worms.

So far, I have two questions:

Do they need grit? Do they only need grit if they are eating things other than the chick starter, such as bugs and clover?

Is there a way to prevent pasty butt other than to wipe their little behinds every time they get a little poopy? One poster recommended apple cider vinegar. Is that true? Does it work?

I'm all freaked out cause they are so tiny and fragile. I don't want to be responsible for infant neglect and/or MURDER!!!!!!!! :happy0035:


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Pasty butt is a stress reaction. Keep them properly warm and give them plenty of fresh water in addition to their feed. A tablespoon of cider vinegar to a gallon of water may help.

What I do with new chicks like this is the first thing I feed them is rolled oats. Just like the type you cook for breakfast. I just pour them over the top of their starter feed and let them eat both together. If they've cleaned up all the oats in an hour I'll give them more. If not then just leave them be. In a day or so the pasty butt should stop.

They only need grit if you are feeding things that you yourself would need to chew with your teeth before swallowing. Rolled oats doesn't need it. Whole oats would.


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## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

I just added the oats to the feed and the cider vinegar to the water; thanks for the tip. Hubbby thinks that handling the chicks stresses them out, but one thing I read about having tame chickens is to handle them when they are young. Which is right?

These chicks are part of my long term preparedness and self sufficiency plan, a hedge against inflation as well as possible SHTF scenario. It is VERY important to me that these babies survive. Keeping my family safe and fed is my ultimate goal with my chickens, my gardens (food, spice and medicinal), my future sheep, etc.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Handling them does stress them out. I prefer to wait three days to a week before letting my kids cuddle them. By then they are much better established.

Except for their show birds we don't try to make lap pets out of our birds so handling them often is not necessary.


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

if you "got" 27 chicks i take it that they were hatchery chicks? or perhaps got them from a feed store? (in other words you didn't just have them hatch in your incubator) I always find my shipped chicks get pasty butt. I just clean it off and make sure they can relieve themselves. Sometimes I don't notice it right away and boy can they look uncomfy!! After about 3-4 days it goes away and doesn't resurface again


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

[[[[.....or MURDER!!!!!!!!....]]]

No, at the worst, we'd charge you with negligent homicide.

To tame them, for the first few days, simply move gently, talk to them, let them learn that you aren't going to grab them. Then, you can start leaving your hand in the brooder, maybe with some feed on it and let them come and explore. Let them be the first to touch.

Remember, they are hard wired to fear predators from the sky, and you are arriving from above them. You have eyes in front, like a predator, and fingers that look like grabbing claws. Let them settle in. When you don't hurt them, don't grab them, and you feed them, it won't take them long before they are happy to see you.


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## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

Yes, I got them from a hatchery who sent them in the mail. Good reputation, healthy chicks. I do hope it goes away, because I _have_ to pick them up, grab them, handle them, etc. in order to clean their tiny heineys! 

Thanks everyone for the input.


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## BoldViolet (Feb 5, 2009)

earthkitty - do you have a blog? You seem to have the same feelings of things that I do, and I'd love to follow your adventures if you blog about them.


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## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

Violet I don't. I thought about doing just that, to document my family's transition from city mice to country mice, then my paranoid freakishness took over and made me decide that I didn't want to put my life on Big Brother's intrerweb. 

I will read yours, though. One of the reasons I joined this site was to exchange ideas and learn from others who are of a similar mindset. I tend to blather on so much about it that those dear to me end up tuning me out!


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

Our first 4 days or so, As not to miss one, I took them out of the brooder and put them into a clothes basket one by one, checked rear ends, dunked their back end in warm water if necessary, gently used a wash cloth if dunking didn't help, attempted to dry a little with a paper towel and put them in with the 'clean' ones. After that it wasn't an issue. They're coming up on 4 wks, the only exp. I have  
I haven't given them grit, but nothing else but the chick starter either.


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Adding cracked corn in with their chick feed helps pasty butt also.


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

I use a little mineral oil to loosen the pasty butt stuff. I always add a little dirt from outside to the food. Just sprinkle on top like salt. It's nice to handle the chicks, but if you watch how they srcamble, and upset they get...I'd have to say, it's stressful on them. I talk to them when feeding and cleaning, and really just try to let them be.


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## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

Well, today is the third day. We stopped picking them up (unless I have to clean them), and the girls are only allowed to put their hands in flat with some food. They hold still, and the little chicks come flying into their hands. The little plymouths are so sweet, they will get into your hand, snuggle down and go to sleep.

I did the oatmeal and added the vinegar, and now only one orp is still having a pasty problem. They are all still alive. Even DH is calling them his chicken babies. These chicks are all egg layers, so everyone treats them like pets.

Thanks again everyone.


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## trbizwiz (Mar 26, 2010)

Something about chickens really warms the heart. I am not really a pet type of guy, but I guess chickens and now my new baby turkeys are quite a treat in an otherwise stressful life.


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## BoldViolet (Feb 5, 2009)

LoL!

Yeah, I'm surprised how attached to our girls I've gotten. I've never had birds, so it was a new experience.

I'm REALLY surprised how attached my husband has gotten to them. He loves to hold them and pet them and talk to them.

earthkitty- I understand the paranoia. Everyone who stars in my blog has an alias. LoL.


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## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

UPDATE - one little baby just kept having a pasty behind. I was cleaning her up about twice a day, and noticed yesterday that her little vent was swollen. Woke up this morning, her little bottom was crusted up, I cleaned her, and she was dead within an hour. 

All the rest seem to have passed the pasty butt problem.

Our first dead chicken. So sad.


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