Pasty Butt? What is it and how do you treat it?

What is Pasty Butt and how to treat it?


woodvilleacechickenblog.blogspot.com Anice 2018


Yes, this happens and yes it can be a fatale situation, but it is so easily taken care of in just a moment with a little soap and water, blow dry and Vaseline.

Pasty Butt in new baby chicks is caused from stress situations such as shipping, new environment, over-crowding, being handled, heat lamps, introduction of first food and water. You can have a whole brooder of chicks and you may have one with pasty butt, or none, then there is that day where you have ten. It is not predictable, nor preventable, it just happens!  And left untreated could lead to death of your baby chick. And yes they outgrow it as soon and they get some age and real feathers.

Pasty Butt or fondly called Poopy Butt is where a tiny bit of chick poop gets stuck in the very fine down feathers at the vent and then it starts to build up and begins to back up as an external obstruction, it can stop everything up.

Little fact of chicken anatomy, they only have one exit called a vent, this is where both poop and pee exits as one substance, as well as where the eggs exits, but from another internal channel.


Some say you can feed cornmeal, grit or raw oatmeal to prevent or cure Pasty Butt. I have not tried this myself but will in the future.

Below is a photo that also shows the belly button or umbilical cord that is attached to the inside of the eggs as the chick is formed. Be extremely careful not to disturb this area it takes a week or so to heal up and fall off like any other umbilical cord.

Spotting Pasty Butt

Here is what you will see. It starts with a tiny bit of poop, dried hard and will get bigger as the chick tried to eliminate waste. You may notice other chicks pecking at them.

Check your chicks daily by picking them up and looking at their bottoms.

If you see this beginning, do not think it will take care of itself, time to take action.

Take them to the sink and run warm water.

Use a very small amount of soap if needed to loosen poop. Working it in with your fingers.

DO NOT PULL on poop or down feathers, you will tear the chicks skin.

Gently work at the poop until it breaks up and dissolves.

Dry chicks bottom with a paper towel.

Blow dry the chick to prevent it from becoming chilled.

Dab a small amount of Vaseline on the vent to prevent more back up and protect the skin. If there is any bloody area or red irritation the Vaseline will mask the wound from other chicks that want to peck at their friends poopy butt.

If you have a chick that is in bad shape because of poopy butt you may need to isolate this chick for a few days while it heals to prevent others from picking at it.

I recommend this site, I met the Chicken Chick in November and she has an excellent article on Pasty Butt but I can only share the link.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/03/pasty-butt-in-chicks-causestreatment.html