Urgent: Just Hatched Chick Struggling and Goop Hardening

I remember the first time I had a goopy chick(s).
Looked like a brylcreem ad after it was dry.
Freaked out, came here and got reassured.
Best tip was to use a dry tooth brush to loosen dried down.
It all worked off within a day or so,
with a little 'preening' from me as I moved them into the brooder.
 
I had to assist a chick in hatching this morning. The thing that had me help was there was goop hardening around the pip and it was making it hard for the chick to breathe. When I started to assist, I found the shell had stuck to the chicks down and the membrane around the air sac had shrink wrapped to the chick. Now the Goop is hardening across its back and neck. It also seems to have some issues with it's legs. It is in distress because it already has a bunch of runny poop caked to its butt. Should I bathe the poor thing and how should I do it?


I run very warm water over the sticky ichy parts, the goop could still be yolk not ingested. you have to observe her . don't yank the goop off. don't yank the shell off. raise the humidity in the incubator to at least 60%. observe, and intervene slowly in small steps.

There are a lot of very informative and smart byc posters who will be able to help you!
 
I'm worried about the color of that 'poop' that was on it (I think it was actually embryonic waste) and how swollen its stomach looks. It might have a yolk sac infection. All that yellow stuff all over it doesn't look like normal egg fluid either, especially since it had chunks of it on it, even on the beak. Fluid isn't chunky :( I'm worried the yellow stuff that was all over her was leftover unabsorbed yolk, which is also a symptom. Did it have a bad smell to it?

I would use a soft tootbrush or q-tip wet with warm water to gently rub at the stuff stuck on it until it comes off.
 
I'm worried about the color of that 'poop' that was on it (I think it was actually embryonic waste) and how swollen its stomach looks. It might have a yolk sac infection. All that yellow stuff all over it doesn't look like normal egg fluid either, especially since it had chunks of it on it, even on the beak. Fluid isn't chunky :( I'm worried the yellow stuff that was all over her was leftover unabsorbed yolk, which is also a symptom. Did it have a bad smell to it?

I would use a soft tootbrush or q-tip wet with warm water to gently rub at the stuff stuck on it until it comes off.
I didn't intentionally smell the chick, but I didn't smell anything other than the poop.
 
I didn't intentionally smell the chick, but I didn't smell anything other than the poop.

Did the poop have a bad smell? Regular embryonic waste doesn't have much of a smell to it, and shouldn't be green, which is why I'm worried coupled with the very swollen belly and the chunky yellow stuff on her.

Hopefully it's nothing, but you should keep an eye on her. Unfortunately there really isn't anything you can do to treat omphalitis if she does have it.
 
Did the poop have a bad smell? Regular embryonic waste doesn't have much of a smell to it, and shouldn't be green, which is why I'm worried coupled with the very swollen belly and the chunky yellow stuff on her.

Hopefully it's nothing, but you should keep an eye on her. Unfortunately there really isn't anything you can do to treat omphalitis if she does have it.
It just smelled a little like poo, although I could be imagining it. I'm mentally preparing myself to cull the chick using the baking soda and vinegar method.
 
It just smelled a little like poo, although I could be imagining it. I'm mentally preparing myself to cull the chick using the baking soda and vinegar method.

I hope it doesn't come to that. If you do have to cull it, though, don't use that method. That method suffocates the chick to death with carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide buildup in the body is what drives us to take a breath. So the chick would be gasping for breath that it cannot get as it slowly suffocates to death, very aware that it cannot breathe and is dying.

The ether method is better - ether slowly puts the chick to sleep and then it overdoses and slips away not knowing what was going on. It's very humane, and ether used to be used as an anesthetic in veterinary medicine.
 
I hope it doesn't come to that. If you do have to cull it, though, don't use that method. That method suffocates the chick to death with carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide buildup in the body is what drives us to take a breath. So the chick would be gasping for breath that it cannot get as it slowly suffocates to death, very aware that it cannot breathe and is dying.

The ether method is better - ether slowly puts the chick to sleep and then it overdoses and slips away not knowing what was going on. It's very humane, and ether used to be used as an anesthetic in veterinary medicine.
That is lighter fluid right? I would need to go out and buy some.
 

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