One of the baby chicks that hatched was just so weird . . the chicken was weird and the hatching experience was weird. It was like he hatched before he was supposed to hatch and he was covered in something sticky (if you know what it was .. don’t tell me!) Parts of the shell were stuck to him. The inner lining of the shell wouldn’t come off. Then he acted crazy. Every time I’d go check on him, he was laying flat of his back with his feet curled up . . in the air! If I tapped the incubator or said something, he jumped and he would jump halfway across the incubator. The next day, he was acting more normal . . standing up and walking instead of jumping/flopping around, but he was still all stuck together and not fluffy so I decided he needed a bath.
Not sure if you can see it but this is how he looked before the bath.
Dirty Chicken
I fixed some warm water and used pet shampoo.
Wet Chicken
Then he had to get blow dryed!
Blow Drying a Chick
Even after the bath, he wasn’t completely free of whatever was stuck to him, but he was a lot better than he was before the bath.
Almost Clean Chicken
Dottie N. says
Oh my – you’re such a GOOD chicken mom (in addition to being a great mom/grandmom).
Jennifer Hogsed says
Sometimes low humidity can cause ‘sticky chicks’
JudyL says
The humidity stayed around 75% the last three days. Should it have been higher?
Mary in VA says
Glad I’m not the only one who gives newborn chicks a bath! We had one like that, where the membrane had stuck her wing to her head. She liked the bath and being snuggled in the towel.
Sherrill says
WHO KNEW just hatching chicks could be so involved!! WOW! Glad you bathed the poor chicky.