Chick dry but not fluffy

[vwhite]

Hi all,

This is my first time incubating chicks and so far everything has been great. I have 12 beautiful fluffy chicks which started hatching on Monday. I have a few more that still need to hatch, and two "day old" chicks in the incubator. The day old chicks actually hatched early this morning. They looked dry but not fluffy, I thought maybe they would fluff up in the brooder. Well the others were picking on them maybe because they look funny, their all crusty and some of their skin is showing anyway, I took them out and put them back in the brooder since I read that they can be in their for a max of 48 hours. I just want to give them time to get stronger and maybe fluff up, do you think that was a good idea? I am so stressed about it. =( Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

 

[croach510]

Hey, congrates on your hatch. What you have is a sticky chick, it has goo on it from hatching that dries hard. They need to be washed off in warm water and put under the heat lamp. You may have to do wash it a couple times before you get off all the goo. Good Luck.

 

[vwhite]

I am scared to get it wet. =( Should I dry with a hair dryer so it dries quickly? Thanks for your help. To say that I am nervous is an understatement.

 

[vwhite]

OH and do I use soap of just water?

 

[vwhite]

I was planning on doing what you suggested this morning, but when I checked on them they were all fluffy! So apparently they just weren't ready to leave the incubator. They are now in the brooder and everyone is happy. =) Thanks again.

 

[SpiritedFarm]

Congrats!

 

[croach510]

I'm glad the fluffed up without you having to bathe them. If you do have to just use warm water, no soap or anythng like that. Mine dont dry and fluf up real well in my bator, so I take mine out and put in the brooder under a heat lamp and the normal dry in no time. Congrats. How about some pics of your babies?

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Im going to try to use warm water on mine and keep them in the brooder to see if that helps. Thank you.

 

[Kyanite]

I just had my first hatch and had many chicks like this. I was told it was due to humidity being a bit high at hatch. They took forever to dry in the incubator. Even when they looked dry but "gelled", they were still a bit sticky after many hours. Once I moved them to the brooder and they started to groom themselves they took care of the problem on their own. Once chick even had some shell stuck to the back of her head that I had to pull off. It looked super funny. I should have taken a picture of it.

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Im going to try to use warm water on mine and keep them in the brooder to see if that helps. Thank you.

This worked!