One Common Cause of Death, and Why
At one time or another, you’ll inevitably lose one or more of your new baby chicks. Mail-order chicks or chicks kept in stressful conditions are most at risk. We usually blame it on one thing or another, but the most common reason is often overlooked… and can be avoided.
Once dehydration is ruled out, and the chick showed no other signs of trouble before it died, the problem is often caused by pasting up, which is just a fancy name for a poopy bum.
This is simply a condition where the baby chick’s poop gets stuck on the downy feathers outside their vent and prevents them from pooping. It’s often a fatal condition, so it’s very important to check all the chickie bums for at least the first two weeks of life.
Tending to Pasting Up
If there’s fecal matter stuck to the chick’s vent, use a warm wet cloth and soak it off. Sometimes if a chick has a chronic problem with pasting up it’s better to pull off the poop when it’s dry. This way it takes all the downy feathers with it, preventing another impaction.
TBN Ranch Chicken Keeping Resources 