Random, kind of silly question...

[WhitneyMarie13]

So, I love this forum and the fact that so many people ask questions that I would have never thought to ask OR that I was thinking of asking!

So, my silly question is this; I have 2 almost week old (will be one week on Saturday) chicks, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, and 1 Buff Orpington. Their brooder floor is covered in pine shavings and I noticed this morning that both of them had poo stuck to one of their toes. I pulled them out of the brooder, dipped just their feet into some warm soapy water and let the poo/shaving come unstuck. I made sure their feathers weren't wet and I made sure their feet were nice and dry before returning them to the brooder. Was it okay to get the stuck poo off their foot?

I can't imagine having poo stuck to any part of their body is good and I didn't want it to create some sort of infection, plus they were both pecking at their own foot as well as each others. My Orpington was not super happy about the whole thing, but calmed down once her little tootsies were dry and my Wyandotte was calm as could be.

I sift the brooder multiple times a day with a kitty litter scoop and I change all of the shavings out for new shavings every other day. This is my second time with chicks, but first time raising such young chicks as my first two White Leghorns were nearly 3 weeks old when I got them.

Thanks for any feedback

 

[MontanaDolphin]

No, it's not going to hurt them getting their feet wet. That being said, there's no reason to clean the poo off the feet...all chicks step in their own poo, and even full grown chickens do. The poo will dry and fall off on its own, especially when they start scratching the pine shavings.

 

[WhitneyMarie13]

Thanks! Yeah, my older girls got poo stuck to their foot on occasion but had no problem scratching/pecking it off. Guess I'm just being overly paranoid with my lil ones!

 

[ShellLea]

Perfectly fine to clean it off. I have 26 chicks and if I notice poop stuck on any of them I clean it up. Most of them are pretty calm about it. A couple of them fuss. It's all good. Have fun with your babies!