How To Treat Pasty Butt In Newly Hatched Chicks
by Meghan H
Published on February 26, 2018
One of the most common conditions in chicks is “pasty bottom” or “pasted bottom”. This occurs when the chick has feces buildup on their vents. When it is not treated, the feces will accumulate around the vent area, causing the chick to be backed up and unable to poop, which in turn will be fatal.
Causes of Pasty Butt
- Stress from being shipped in the mail and getting too cold.
- Stress from being too hot or too cold in the brooder
- Stress from an overcrowded brooder
- Feeding anything other than a good quality chick starter
When you receive your chicks, it is important to check their vents for any signs of pasting as you are dipping their beaks in the drinking water. Ensuring your brooder is the correct size for your number of chicks and the proper temperature are key factors that can help reduce the number of chicks that get pasty bottom. For additional information on proper chick brooder set up see our Brooding For Beginners post.
Thankfully, treating pasty bottom is simple and quick. Once you have identified it, all you need to do is clean the vent area of any backed up feces.
Step One:
Pick the chick up and hold her between your hands keep her wings secured and bottom pointing out.
Step Two:
Gently without causing damage to her down feathers run her bottom under lukewarm water (not cold) and wash off the dried on feces. This step can take some time and she will not like it and will be chirping away, but she will thank you later. Take care to keep the water limited to the affected area as water can quickly chill a baby chick.
Step Three:
Once all the feces are removed, take a towel and dry her off. I then like to take a hairdryer and fluff her back up. I use a hairdryer on a low, warm setting; holding the hairdryer away a little bit so she doesn’t get too warm. This is an important step because any sign of red on her may cause the other chicks to begin pecking at her, causing a whole other issue!
Step Four:
Once she is all fluffed back up, put a dab of Vaseline under her vent to help prevent feces from sticking, just in case she continues to paste up.
Pasty bottom is something that is easily treatable but you do need to catch and treat it early. Have you had experience with pasting in new chicks? Leave us a comment and tell us about it.
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Thank you so much for this information. Big help.
I have used wet warm cotton balls and have had good luck with that. and instead of Vaseline I use bag balm.
About 2 years ago I had a chick that had pasty bottom. She must have been that way for a little bit. Because when I cleaned her up she continued to poo you a bit. But after that she was good.
Thank you very much for the information!!
Hello have a baby chick we hatched in a kindergarten about 2 weeks old no. I assume it may be a lost cause but I’m trying. Chick has pastry but last not helped relieve a huge blocked chunk from inside. Must have been pecked in one eye using antibiotic cream to heal it though I’m thinking it’s not gona heal. Baby also has one leg that stays straight out not sure if it is spraddle or broken ?
Hi Tracy. Thank you for reading our blog and leaving a comment. Your classroom-hatched chick definitely sounds like it has many health issues. Sounds like you are doing the best you can in spite of the circumstances. Here’s a blog post to try to help with the spraddle leg.
What if she moved as I was applying Vaseline Eric got on her vent? It also looks like she previously pulled out her Feathers before I was able to soak. Is there a different application for that?
Hi Bill. The chick will likely preen itself and remove any extra petroleum jelly from around the vent area. As chicks grow in new feather, their down will fall out. So if your chick is missing some down just make sure that it is kept warm enough and in a few weeks it will have feathers replacing that missing down anyway.
We have been treating our chick for two days and everything keeps getting stuck to her. How long does pasty butt last and is there anything else we can do?
Hi Bethany. Thanks for reading our blog. Pasty bottom usually resolves within the first week. If it’s only 1 chick out of a group that is pasting up, she may be having a hard time digesting the type of feed, not learning to drink enough water, or otherwise still adjusting to her new life in the brooder. Just keep cleaning her and she will eventually adjust.
I wish this information was sent with your chicks. I’m on day 3 of this with two out of the three chicks I ordered. Ones butt area is completely poking out. Like a soft V shape. Is this normal with this? How many days does it usually take to resolve this?
Hi Amy. I’m glad you found our blog for the information you were looking for. We also have a Help Desk with tons of information too. Try putting a tiny dab of hemorrhoid ointment or cream on the red, protruding area. Sometimes the tissues are so irritated and swollen that the area will appear very angry and the ointment or cream will reduce the swelling and help heal it.
It’s now almost oozing a clear liquid. Do you think this is still pasty butt? I’m worried he’s going to die.
Pasty bottom doesn’t usually involve oozing a clear liquid. It’s a buildup of fecal matter around the anal opening. It sounds like your chick may have another issue going on now like diarrhea.
My wife and I got in a order from hatchery 31 chicks mixed breeds. However we lost 4 in three days. two within 24 hours and 2 more to follow in three days. Interesting one was a porcelain blue mille Bantam, One was a large chick, a dark Brahma chick, One black frizzle bantam and one Silver Birchen Maran big chick. All went same pattern dilivered fine could see nothing wrong with any of them. Temp in large brooder was 97 in home so temp controlled, brooder 8 feet by 3 feet wide with large sweetheater, deep shavings and 5 ‘ high top on it covered with sides 2 feet high covered so no drafts. Used 18 % medicated chick feed brand new bag feed not old. All did same thing were fine early morning had plenty of feed in front of them. Fed some boiled egg yolk to them ate well by mid morning happy seemed very healthy, ate, drank but by mid morning they started to sleep heavily head down and then just died in heavy sleep. Had a 5th one, one more slipping away on 4th day; But one of hatchery employees, said try honey in warm water. She could not even open eyes started dipping her beak in the honey water every 1/2 hour did get some down her very carefully and by 4th time she opened her eyes kept up until 11:00 pm, she was resting and by morning found her up eating with rest of chicks. Has been fine ever since. No pasty but on any of them?
Then Gave them all honey water and have not lost any more as of on 12 days now. Any idea what could of caused this with variance of size of chicks? Rest all happy and running around brooder no issues?
Hi Rob. Just like humans, chickens can have a variance in body size. No two chicks are exactly alike and each grow at their own rate. It’s not uncommon to have some that are larger and some smaller, even when they are all the same breed.
We are seeing one of our bantam chicks appears to have a cross beak developing. She is eating well seems happy and healthy otherwise. but beak not in alignment top and bottom off side a bit.
She is 12 days old anyway to help her?
Hi Rob. Here’s an article from our Help Desk on how to manage cross beak.
I know this is an issue I am having. Newbie chick mom. I did not know about the pasty vent. However the first delivery I got by day 3 all 15 chicks were dead. This time 1 was dead in the box. We have lost 6 so far. So I am checking the vents. I am hoping for the best. Temp is regulated space water and this time medicated food is working. We have made it to day 4. Fingers crossed
Hi Kristie. Thanks for reading our blog on Pasty Bottom. We hope your next round of chicks is better. Pasty Bottom is something to watch out for during the first 10 days.
We recently hatched 6 chicks in our own incubator…all we’re doing fine, until day 7. The tiniest one who we thought at first had pasty but , but could see the vent was clear & the dark area seemed to be the umbilical cord area ( started having difficulties breathing & passed within 2 hrs) .
We had Gone to pick up a bigger container for them & our daughter-in-law stayed with him , but at the time we didn’t know anything to do to help.
I felt so sad & wondered if we could’ve saved him , had we been home.