Crusty chicks!!!

[Jeffross1968]

I have one really crusty, and one kinda crusty chicks. Never had to deal with that before. The bad one literally has a shield of hardened funk on it. It's got some other issues too, and am thinking it should be cleaned, but how the heck do I do that??

 

[Kedreeva]

Never had this with chickens, but my ducks do this all the freaking time. They take their sweet time getting out of the eggs and then the gunk dries to them in the process. I just fill a shallow bowl with warm water and soak them in it for a few minutes (keep their head above water!), rubbing over their feathers with my thumb until the water is dirty or they are clean. If the former comes first, I dump and refill with warm water and repeat. If they start getting cold, it's into a damp towel with their head out, and under the heat lamp directly til they warm up. It's a pain, but if you don't get that stuff off fast, they lose way too much heat way too quickly even in the brooder, because their feathers can't fluff to keep them warm.

Best of luck!

 

[FarmGirl01]

I had one that did that. Very hard crust all over its back. I used warm soapy water (ivory) and gave it a quick wash. It was hard to get off. I used a hair dryer to get it mostly dry then back in the brooder with a good heat source.

 

[quintinp]

Quote:
X2, The chicken I did this too though was unable to walk very well, and it had mental issues, and it eventually drowned 2 days later after I washed it. The chick was just not able to get out of the egg, and I didn't have the humidity up very high, so it got nasty and turned into a hard crusty mess.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

Last year I had a few like this and washed them off with warm water. I think the humidity was too low.

 

[RedChickBarn]

I am wondering about this one - This is our first go with incubating chicks. We set 29 eggs. So far, 5 have hatched with lots more wobbling and pipping. One pipped yesterday morning and is zipped about 2/3 around - looks like much more than the other chicks that have already hatched. It looks like one good stretch and that baby is outta there, but... it looks so gunky and crusty. Not quite sure what to do. The beak is visible, but it isn't chirping much. It does move the egg and we can see it breathing, but it's kinda just stuck it looks like. It made good progress yesterday morning and we kept expecting it to pop out, but one by one others are pipping, zipping and hatching! This little guy/gal is just in a holding pattern it seems. Any ideas? I don't want to touch it or do anything to help it, but if it really it stuck then....