What do you do about dried membrane on a chick?

[Mommysongbird]

We have a chick that hatched early in the AM, about 4:00 and he had the shell stuck to him, well turns out if was just dried to his feathers. Now that he is dry, he is 'stiff' with dried membrane all over, what to do???

 

[snazzyboots]

that happened to some of my chicks. i rinsed them with warm water the next day and it helped a little but they were still sticky for a couple of days. they are cleaning themselves off pretty well. they hatched friday and saturday and there is only one with a little stuff. good luck with your babies

 

[Chicky Tocks]

There's not a lot that you can do outside of rinsing the chick under some warm water and placing it straight under the lights.
What I've done in the past is, if I notice that the chick is sticky in the incubator, I take it out, rinse it off slightly under some warm water, blot it as dry as I can with a towel and put it back in my forced air bator for a blow dry.

 

[itsiebitsiefarm]

Quote:
X 2

 

[youngbiddy]

Soak a cotton ball in warm water and thoroughly moisten the sticky area. If you can get it loosened a little an old toothbrush will take it right off. Or you can just give it some time.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Okay, thanks.

He has a little bit of membrane on the side of his neck and the other chicks keep pecking at it, so I guess I can at least try to get that off.

I will try the cotton balls.

 

[Mommysongbird]

well I cleaned the chick with warm water and cotton ball, he/she hated it. I tried to not get him to wet in any case I put him back in the bator to dry and hopefully fluff up this time and now he seems not well?? He will just stand in one place and kinda close his eyes and wobble a bit. He is cheaping but not as much as he was ealier. He did help a fellow flock member out of their shell though.

will he be okay??

 

[KZ]

He is probably tired from all the excitement of a bath and is falling asleep on his feet. I cleaned a pasty butt tonight and it made the chick cold and tired. He went and stood under the light with his eyes closed. He'll be fine.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
Thanks, I hope you are right, just so worried now. He is the tiniest one we have, not sure why he is tiny, just is. Maybe he just looks tiny because he hasn't fluffed out??

When he was in the brooder before the bath, I noticed that I could see his skin on his back and I know he hadn't ever fluffed out, but what if there are just no feathers there?? Is that possible??

Oh, I need to stop worrying.

 

[debilorrah]

Ok, reading all this I just HAD to share. This poor chick was so shrink wrapped I wasn't sure it would ever correct itself. This is after an hour of washing, peeling, picking, etc.

This is her 4 weeks later:

The polish. I just let it grow out.