Congratulations, your chicks have arrived and they’re settled in the brooder Now what? One of the very first things to watch for with mail-order chicks is a condition called pasty butt, sometimes known as pasted vent It sounds almost comical, but it is genuinely serious Pasty butt can kill a baby chick if it isn’t caught and cleaned quickly The good news is that it’s easy to spot, easy to treat at home, and largely preventable once you know what causes it Here’s everything you need to check for in those critical first few days