cleaaning my chicks feet?

[cartersmith]

my baby chicks seem to have a buils up of poop in there toes how can i clean this i have tried dipping there feet in warm water and getting it of that way but it is solid
any ideas

 

[NattiFan]

How young are they? Are they in a brooder or a coop?

 

[cartersmith]

they are 18days and they are in a brooder indoors

 

[biddybird]

Clean the pen and If they are over five days old and eating good, put in some pine shavings and it will usually take care of it in a few hours, If it is still not coming off try the warm water again and get anything chunky off. If the toes are stuck together it will cause them to grow mis-shapen if left stuck together. In the future try to keep the pen dry and clean. I raise mine on rubber shelf mats and clean about every couple days depending on how many chicks I have in the brooder. Your chicks may need an antibiotic like duramycin if their stools are real runny. I keep mine on it until they leave the brooder.

Good Luck!

 

[NattiFan]

as far as the cleaning for their feet goes, I'd say just keep at with a warm cloth till it comes off....I'd also maybe change out whatever you have on the floor of the brooder a little more often. I started mine on paper towels for the first couple weeks and changed just about everyday depending how messy it got. Good luck

 

[cartersmith]

they are on wood chippings have been for over week now and i clean in out every few days, i wouldn't say there stools are overly runny and there toes aint stuck together they just have solid balls of poop stuck round a couple of the nails.

do you think it will sort itself?

i dont want to stress them to much i may leave them a couple more days and if nothing try soaking in warm water again someone suggested putting vaseline over there toes

 

[biddybird]

They will probably be fine as long as it isn't like shoes. (Does that make since???)
One thing to consider--What size brooder do you have them in? I keep my 2-3 week (20-30 chicks until they look crowded) and in a large tote (maybe 4' x 2') with about a gallon size baggie full of shavings. If they do get poop on their feet it falls off as they run back and forth to the feed and water on the cool side from the light end. The bigger the tote the less cleaning and I worry less about them getting too hot during the day.
I had the poopy feet problem a couple of years ago and I think I may have had too many chicks in a smaller tote, that is also about the time I started giving the duramycin in the water and I havent had the problem again.

Hope they do fine!