Most chicken owners will encounter medical issues among their flock at some point.
There are many signs and symptoms to watch for when it comes to a chicken’s health and wellness.
An important part of a chicken’s anatomy, that often becomes an area to watch for illness, is the vent (a.k.a cloaca).
It is common, and unpleasant to deal with conditions of the vent, but it is extremely important to take prompt action when there are signs of trouble.
What is the Vent?
The vent is the small opening on a chicken’s fluffy butt that functions as both a reproductive opening and an excremental escape hatch.
In other words, it’s the baby maker and the exit for their birdy poo.
Both feces and eggs are dispatched through this one small opening.
A healthy vent will be pink and moist.
There will be no signs of inflammation, discoloration, or dirt.
Yes, at times it may get a little messy, but for the most part, the feathers should be clean around the vent.
What is Pasty Butt?
Pasty butt occurs most often in chicks that have been shipped from a hatchery.
If a chick has a pasty butt, a plug of feces will be visible covering the vent.
It is typically dry and stuck tightly to the baby’s down.
As a chick continues to try to pass its excrement, it continues to build up and harden; thus the little chick becomes blocked and unable to pass stool.
It is painful and stressful for the chick and can become fatal if not treated appropriately, and quickly.
Pasty butt occurs in chicks who are stressed due to things like shipping, movement, or other external factors.
It can also be caused by improper diet, dehydration, or being kept at incorrect brooder temperatures for their age.
Viruses and infections are also less common causes of pasty butt, but should not be ruled out.
If more than one chick consistently suffers from the pasty butt, there may be an underlying illness.
How to Detect Pasty Butt Or Vent Issues
Pasty butt is not always an obvious affliction, so it is important for the chicken owner to observe new chicks for symptoms.
When I receive a new box of chicks, I take the time to check each one as I move them from the shipping container to their brooder box.
I have not often seen pasty butt directly out of the shipping box; however, it often occurs after the chicks have started eating chick starter.
This could certainly be due to the quick diet change (from nothing to something).
To check each chick, I hold them one at a time, gently, and tip them over so I can get a clear view of the vent.
If there is excrement literally pasted, and dry, covering their butt then it is safe to assume they need to be treated.
Pasty butt usually sticks out like a sore thumb, so a quick glance is really all it takes.
For the first two weeks, I regularly check each chick individually, about once every other day.
It would be easy to overlook pasty butt without picking each chick up individually and turning them over.
A chick can be fine one day, but the next day appears sluggish.
It may not follow the rest of the young flock or it might prefer to sleep instead of bustling about with the rest of the active chicks.
A chick displaying this behavior may have a pasty butt. Once they become this ill, it is hard to treat, so prevention is key.
Prevention
Pasty butt can get out of control quickly, and if not recognized early, it can become too far gone to be able to treat.
Prevention is the best way to combat this condition.
Three Ways to Prevent Pasty Butt
Maintaining Appropriate Brooder Temperature: Pasty butt can be prevented by checking the brooder temperature often, adjusting according to the age of the chick.
Any extreme variance one way or another will cause problems for the young flock
Probiotics: Just like humans, probiotics can help chicks with digestive disorders.
Our Chicken Probiotic Recommendation:
Big Ole Bird – Poultry Probiotic & Supplement
- Healthier weights
- Improved egg quality and quantity
- Inhibits algae in watering troughs
- Improved resistance to pathogens and disease
- Reduces odor-causing Ammonia and H2S
Grit: Making sure chicks have grit available will aid in proper digestion.
Our Chicken Grit Recommendation:
Manna Pro Poultry Grit
- Manna Pro Grit helps with proper digestion
- For all classes of poultry
- Insoluble crushed granite
If more than one chick is afflicted with pasty butt, and it becomes a recurring problem, there is a slight possibility that the chicks are ill, look into our diseases and illness guides to help determine the cause.
How to Treat Pasty Butt
Luckily, pasty butt is easy, albeit unsettling, to treat if it is caught early.
Because it is the type of condition that can easily snowball, at the first sign of pasty butt, it should be addressed. It becomes more difficult to treat as time passes.
Step One
First, I prepare a bowl of water that is as close to the temperature of the brooder as possible.
Then, I make sure I have gloves on, and either paper towels or napkins on hand.
I keep the disposable towels moistened throughout the entire process. Doing so keeps the paper soft, and less harsh on the baby’s bottom.
Step Two
Then, I gently pick up the chick, who is already understandably grumpy, and slowly lower its back end only into the warm water.
I make sure to do my best to wet as little of the chick as possible to prevent the chick from becoming chilled when returned to the brooder.
Once in the water, the chick quickly relaxes and accepts the experience.
It will often stop chirping and even dangle its little chick legs like a rag-doll (the warm water is akin to a lovely spa treatment for the fussy chick).
I make sure to hold the chick firmly, yet gently, in the water for about 30 seconds.
Step Three
Next, I lift the chick out of the water, take the moist disposable towel in my other hand and very gently attempt to pull some of the plugs off.
If it has not softened enough to remove the entire plug, I repeat steps two and three until the plug simply slides off with light pressure.
Step Four
It would be rude to leave the chick dripping from the back end.
So I spend some time lightly dabbing the bottom of the chick to aid the drying process.
Then, I return the chick to the brooder.
If other chicks peck at the wet area on the chick to the point of causing more stress or injury, I opt to keep the wet chick separate until dry.
Baby chicks are curious and love to poke at other chicks that look just a little different than the others.
Many times the same chick will become plugged again within a short amount of time.
This is why it is important to treat the underlying condition and continue to monitor the chick for pasty butt.
Other Vent Infections
Adult birds rarely get pasty butt.
By the time they are laying, they have developed a resilient vent area and muscles.
In other words, they are able to defecate more effectively than a newborn chick.
But that doesn’t mean they are out of the woods for other vent infections.
They can become infected with parasites and mites, each of which has tell-tale signs like a messy bottom.
Vent gleet, however, is the adult chicken equivalent of pasty butt.
Vent Gleet
Vent gleet (or cloacitis) is the inflammation of the vent.
A full-grown bird may suffer from vent gleet due to the consumption of moldy food, stress, or other illness.
It can also be due to dirty water.
While chickens love drinking from puddles, and this is completely normal, they may be putting their health at risk if they are drinking stagnant water, or water that is contaminated with fecal matter.
In other words, their digestive system is in peril.
Too many treats can often cause this kind of distress and confined chickens, that are not provided with grit, will also struggle to digest their food properly.
If I notice symptoms of vent gleet, I immediately add probiotics to their clean water and confine the afflicted birds to a coop of their own.
They get a very bland diet…just their layer feed and grit until the condition clears.
Confinement also helps prevent the spread of any possible disease to other healthy birds.
If a week goes by and their butts are not back to their fluffy selves, I will consult a veterinarian for their opinion.
Chickens won’t be happy to be handled for care, but they will feel much better once they are free of the “obstruction” or digestive upset.
Vent problems are not fun to deal with, but they can easily be prevented and stifled, if caught early on.
It is important to monitor the flock for any signs of these disorders.
While it may be an unpleasant task to treat vent issues, it is important to take action as soon as possible.
READ NEXT: Chicken Anatomy 101: Everything You Need To Know
Disclosure: We may earn affiliate commissions at no cost to you from the links on this page. This did not affect our assessment of products. Find full disclosure here.
This article is so helpful!
This has been very healthful. I had a chicken with this problem and I did sit her in a water bath and clean her vent . Kept her inside for a few days then let her back out. She is doing much better.
I am going to try dipping my 3 yr old chook into a warm bucket of water as she appears to have a blockage around vent. Very helpful advice. Thank you. Denise
Good information
Very informative article and well set out. Thanks
Thanks for the information. Please can I add a granding egg shell to a brolier feeds? They are three weeks of age for now. Thank you.
Great article! Would it be safe/helpful to give a chick with pasty butt a dab of yoghurt at feeding time?
I have an older hen who appears to have prolapsed internal organs. I have given her an epsom salt bath and checked for a bound egg, but there is nothing hard inside. She has stopped foraging and stands all day in an upright position. I’m wondering what else I can do — any advice is much appreciated.
I have four roosters, three kept together and one by himself (it’s a long story). I also have two hens kept by themselves (another story). I have a problem with two boosters – the lone one and one of the three. They have a very red streak running from the breast bone to just shy of the vent and roughly one inch wide. It just looks very irritated. There’s no odor, no mites or lice, etc. I can’t see that they pick at it or rub it. The three do hit the wire surrounding the one and he responds in kind. If anyone has a theory of idea I would appreciate a response.
Thanks
Mike
Mike, now you said you did not see mites, and you most likely did not. But the mites are TINY like pepper and very hard to see. Have you double checked? Sounds like mites.
I think I am dealing with vent gleet in a 4 yr old buff . She has had white poop for about a week now. She feels bad. Her crop is empty, tho she is still pecking and pecks at the scratch. Her underside is puffed and hard. I have cleaned her butt and added OCV to their water. She isn’t improving. What should I do for her?
I had one that was about 4/5 years old she was weak /sickly would eat would drink was hard and puffed under side she had a egg stuck inside Can’t remember the correct term they used Ended up loosing her
We have a baby Speckled Sussex chick, 5 weeks who’s vent is continuously closing & opening, she is also constantly bobbing & will not eat mealworms.
Her brood mate is a Cream Legbar chick same age, a lot more active, eats mealworms and doesn’t show any signs of disorder.
Any comments would be helpful. Thanks
My chick is four weeks now and the butt has pulled out and it can’t pass poo properly pls I need urgent answer on what to do or use please
My hen is 3 years old and for a week she’s had clear looking, big piles of watery poop. When I clean it up it’s actually green. Any thoughts? She’s always been smaller than her sisters.
I was cleaning off poop build up around my fluffy chickens vent, when I noticed around 40 pin feathers with a build up of something that looks like very tiny gray eggs accumulated in perfect formation around the base of the feathers below her vent & continuing on underneath. Any ideas what it could be? We cut a lot off.