Early this morning I peeked into the brooder and saw that one of the Rhode Island Reds had a little problem known as "pasty butt". Basically, they get stressed out and have some intestinal problems, which need to be taken care of or else they'll die. Every problem with chicks seems to be magnified: if they have slippery bedding, their legs will dislocate and they'll DIE. If they get a tummy upset, their poop will crust over and they'll DIE. Well.
I took this little one and wiped off its bottom (familiar territory in this household with a recently potty-trained child, really). As I did this, I heard a door open and Jonah shuffled down the hall, newly woken up, squinting and rubbing his eyes. So I showed him the baby chick and explained what I was doing.
You're not supposed to let children touch chicks, first because of salmonella risks, and second because the chicks are so fragile. So Jonah just watched the chick peep for a bit, and then I took pity on the poor thing and put it back with her mates.
The chicks are getting wing feathers to replace the fuzz. We'll have to take them out of the box tonight to change all the bedding, and I'll see if I can get some good shots then.
3 comments:
This is so awesome. I'm so totally mailing Jonah my old camera. You don't have to pay postage.
He's such a cute little guy. Naturally.
I don't mean the pasty butt is awesome. Get well soon, baby chicken.
I mean your blog is awesome.
That's what I mean.
Aw, thanks! The pasty butt doesn't appear to be a huge deal once it's cleaned, I guess it just can't stay there for too long or the whole system backs up. The blog is fun!
Jonah will LOVE your camera. I will e-mail you a couple of photos that he took of himself. When he sees them on the computer screen, he laughs and covers his mouth, like "ooooh hooo hooo hooo". It's hilarious.
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