1 day old leghorns do I need to clean them

[bobbieschicks]

Such an exciting Saturday we had. Here are my 1 day old White Leghorns - out of 11 surviving at lockdown - 6 hatched out (1 died after piping b/c of rough housing by the others, 4 more never pipped) I have the incubator still in lockdown but will clean it out today after making sure there aren't any stragglers.

3 chicks were born around 11 a.m. and 3 chicks were born around 11 pm. One of the later chicks has a weird thing going on with it's back and butt where it seems to have crusty stuff that isn't going away- the other two late ones seem to be drying okay. My question is do I clean the chicks off or will they clean themselves naturally?

 

[sonew123]

I see the crustiness your speaking of...I'm guessing there might have been a humidity issue with your bator as its looks pasty. I have never cleaned or washed chicks after hatching no matter how crusty they look because once their baby fuzz grows out ( a week or two) the crustiness comes off with it. Now if it is crust near the vent preventing it from going to the bathroom-yes I will clean the butts or near the eye-preventing it from seeing properly-congrats on your hatch!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Quote:
Thank you - I was waiting to see if it fell off overnight and noticed that the earlier hatchlings are almost clean. Do you think the humidity was too low?

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
Thank you - I was waiting to see if it fell off overnight and noticed that the earlier hatchlings are almost clean. Do you think the humidity was too low?

yes-that is my thought or you opened the bator alot during lockdown? yes??

 

[bobbieschicks]

Yes, I had opened the bator 3 quick times to remove the original 3 hatched chicks earlier in the day & their eggshells b/c they were causing a big rucous kicking eggs & trampling others. But I moved really quickly - but I think the humidity was out of control for most of the hatch. I've ordered a better hydrometer/thermometer for the next time.

He is doing much better today - the crusty stuff is mostly off and he's looking better. I checked and it was loosely hanging onto his back - so I left it alone. Thanks again!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Three days old and they are all doing great so far! The one with the weird crusty stuff is almost all fluffed out too.