Well it seems to be a problem again. It appears new poop built up again, so this morning I dabbed it with warm water. I soaked it for a long time and a little of the poop dissolved from the vent area. The chick was starting to get distressed so I stopped. Here are pictures of how I left it. And thank you for your help on this.
Okay, so you need to get it off no matter how much the chick doesn't want help. What I use is a q-tip and just soak the end with warm water. Massage the surrounding fluff and the poop to loosen it up. You may need some extra hands for this and you may need to use several q-tips. It may gall off once moist enough but of not try to see if you can remove it. If you think it's still on there pretty good do some more q-tip swabbing. You just need to get it off because it can't stay there.
Last night I did what you said and using q-tips helped a LOT. I got her vent and around it totally cleaned off. There was a raw looking patch of skin that looked like was rubbed off. I suspect it happened from her picking at it. The only poop left is a small amount that looks like it is on her umbilical cord. I put Vaseline around her vent and raw skin part. I’m keeping an eye on the umbilical cord to see when it falls off. Earlier tonight I thought I saw it on the pads with some poop, but it was too long and thick to be her cord. It looks kind of like a small earthworm. As far as I know worms wouldn’t look like that. I don’t know which of the four chicks did that poop. I’ll try to find out if that’s normal.
I searched this site for what worms would look like and from the pictures, the poop I saw in my brooder is perfectly normal. It’s just long!You're welcome!
