What's the green stuff?

[AMA Chick]

I just got my chicks from Cackle Hatchery this morning, and was wondering, WHAT is the green stuff on some of them, and on the bottom of the box, AND, on some hineys when they poo?
:/

This is my first time ordering chicks to be shipped, so I don't know these things yet

 

[chicmom]

Is it a bright green gel? If so, that's a gel the hatcheries put into the shipping boxes to that the chicks like to eat, and it helps keep them hydrated and gives them some electrolites as well.

It does sometimes get all over them, and the green can show up in their poop.

 

[AMA Chick]

Yes! It is bright green...Thanks, I figured that's what it was, but thought I'd ask

 

[EweSheep]

Yep and totally harmless! Good for them tho!

 

[Alabama ee]

I had something that was green in with the chicks, but it was not a gel It was hard like pellets. Would it have dried out on the trip, or did someone not add water to it?

 

[Albanydog]

When we got our chick order from Ideal Poultry in late 2010 we found chick food and dried out gel all over inside the fibrous mat inside the box. I was thinking the gel was more a dark blue then bright green but it was all dried up so maybe it just looked blue or they use a different gel for their chicks. I was most surprised at the fact that there was so much chick food stuffed inside the mat and no source of fluids. It was my understanding they are allowed to ship day old chicks only because they do not require food or water because they had they still had part of the yoke/eggs sack in their bellies they would be absorbing for food while they were shipped. Hmm. this could account for the fact that some of the chicks appeared older then 3 days when they arrived and were already getting their feathers in.