PROTECTING THE FLOCK

PASTY BUTT
Often chickens, and chicks in particular, will get pasty butt because of hardened loose droppings. It can be caused by any type of stress that upsets the digestive tract, like a change in temperature. In the winter, the loose droppings will dry quickly and very hard because of heat lamps. It forms a harmful clump and prevents the animal from voiding any manure or waste products, so it's very serious. It can even lead to death.

To treat pasty butt, you need to remove the hardened droppings. If you have to, use a little bit of warm water and soap to try to remove the clump. Then, dry the chicken and make sure it gets back under a heat lamp to dry off and stay warm. You may have to repeat this for two to three days until the chicken's intestinal tract normalizes and they resume producing normal stools. Just as if you visited a foreign country and came down with intestinal problems, it usually takes two or three days to overcome intestinal troubles in chickens as well.

CANNIBALISM OR FEATHER PICKING
Another issue is cannibalism or feather picking, and it can start at a very young age, even with baby chicks. Sometimes, you'll have a smaller bird that maybe hasn't had the chance to drink or eat and is growing slower than the other birds. These birds can be bullies, and they can start picking on the young bird. It could be caused by overcrowding, overheating, different age birds, boredom, long daylight hours, very bright lights, poor nutrition, and it also occurs again right around 16 to 18 weeks when the chickens reach sexual maturity, since they have a little bit more aggression during that time.

There are a number of ways you can eliminate this behavior.

Give the birds more space. If you have one bird that is getting picked on, isolate it for a couple days. Provide it its own feeder and water. Keep it away until it grows up a little it bigger and closer to the same size as the other birds. Then reintroduce it and it should do fine.

Poor ventilation could cause birds to become agitated and pick, so make sure to allow fresh air into your coop.

If you have too much light or if it's really bright, the birds become agitated. Reduce the light intensity. As long as you can see fairly well within the area it should be fine, and the chickens should be more than happy.

You can also put small handfuls of hay out, and create some barriers within the environment with hay bales so the birds can escape each other for a little while.

Purina® SunFresh® Recipe Flock Block® feed is very effective in restoring natural pecking instincts. If you provide this type of a block the chickens may peck on the block rather than themselves. Flock Block® is similar to a scratch only in a block form. If you are going on vacation for a couple days, you can put one of these out in addition to supplying sufficient clean, fresh water. It feeds up to 25 birds for two or three days or maybe longer.

Better Animals - Electronic Newsletter - Family Flock - November 2011