Pasty butt

Monday evening, one of the two silver Polish was not looking good. By morning, she was very weak. I don’t know why I didn’t think to check for pasty butt sooner. I picked her up and examine her behind. Sure enough, her vent was caked with poop. I remembered my experience with Sara two years ago and very gently rubbed the poop with a damp paper towel. I got too aggressive with Sara and took off some of her skin too. I got the vent opened. By the time I left for work, the chick was eating and drinking again.

As the days have passed, she is still small. Because she is wobbly and awkward, Hilda named her Grace. The other silver Polish has had some pasty butt as well, but not as bad. I named her Nadia in keeping with her Polish breed name and our previous habit of naming hens after celebrity chefs (Nadia G. of Bitchin’ Kitchen.)

This morning I did some research on backyardchickens.com.  The pasty butt discussion board suggested holding the chick’s rear end under tepid running water, blotting dry, and applying a bit of olive oil to prevent the poop from sticking.

I tried it, first with Gracie, then with Nadia. All on my own, I thought of using my blow drier to fluff up the feathers after her bath. I thought maybe Gracie wasn’t growing because she was losing heat through her matted feathers. I checked on them at the end of the day. Gracie’s feathers were fluffier than they’d been since I had to start treatments. The olive oil seemed to be working. Both chicks had clean vents.

All the other chicks seem to be doing fine. Someone on the Backyard Chickens discussion board said slow-growing chicks sometimes catch up, and sometimes they don’t make it. We will be sad if Gracie doesn’t make it. The more effort you spend keeping something alive, the more dear it becomes to you. I should have checked for pasty butt as soon as she looked puny. The should-haves don't count. I'll feel bad if she dies from my initial negligence.

Here’s a picture of some sleeping chicks. The way they flop down with their heads straight out always makes us panic that they’ve died. But at the slightest noise, they perk up and run around.

Sleeping chicks

One of the Araucana is getting pretty wings.

Araucana, left is getting pretty wing feathers. A Welsummer is behind her, a buff Orpington is to the right.

The first part of the video shows wobbly Gracie. Later on, there is footage of her taking a nap followed by Nadia scratching like a big girl. There’s a clip of a group nap toward the end.

Flowers continue to bloom. The ginger we planted last year is spreading and bloomed again. The bleeding heart is back. It and the prairie smoke get bigger each year. I was pleased to see the trillium spreading and blooming as well.

Bleeding heart

Wild ginger--flower is at the base of the leaves

Prairie smoke

Trillium