Yesterday at about 3 am.... I ended up assisting an egg with it's hatching.... It's membrane had dried and it was stuck in the shell. I was sure it would die without my help, which is why I intervened. Anyway, the chick seems to be doing well, it's in a brooder with the only other one that hatched so far... however, it's not fluffy at all. It's been out for like 30 hours, and it's definitely dry, but it seems to have crusty membrane stuff dried and stuck to it.... so my question is, what do i do? Can I try to take a warm washcloth and gently clean it off??
I would take a warm, wet washcloth and try to get some of it off, little by little. Make sure you keep him under the heat lamp, you wouldn't want him to get chilled. I have one that had crusty stuff on his back, I cleaned it gently and he fluffed right up!
I have the helping sicknes bad . . . I just use a warm damp washcloth after i put them in the brooder and they fluff right up.