Help with gooey chicken

[krasi]

Hi guys, it's been a long time but I need your wisdom and experience again. I hatched some chicks in my incubator. The first that pipped did it at the wrong end of the egg and was the last to come out of the egg, with a little bit of help from me. As he was coming out, I could see the membrane stuck on him.

Since then, he has not fluffed up as much as his brothers and sisters. I have read some posts on here with similar problems and some people advise to leave it as it is and he will fluff up in time (probably after several days or weeks when the new feathers come out) and some others suggest giving the chick a warm bath, washing the goo off maybe with a toothbrush, then drying it with a hairdryer.

So far the chick seems to be doing fine, eating, pooping and sleeping. He seems to be a tiny bit less active than his siblings and I had to separate them as they were pecking him. What is your experience? I can't help thinking he must be uncomfortable with his feathers like that. On the other hand, I don't want to give him a bath, if it's unnecessary. I would hate it if he died because of it after all he has gone through.

Please let me have your advice. I am attaching photos of the chick and his fluffy siblings.

 

[krasi]

Hi guys, it's been a long time but I need your wisdom and experience again. I hatched some chicks in my incubator. The first that pipped did it at the wrong end of the egg and was the last to come out of the egg, with a little bit of help from me. As he was coming out, I could see the membrane stuck on him.

Since then, he has not fluffed up as much as his brothers and sisters. I have read some posts on here with similar problems and some people advise to leave it as it is and he will fluff up in time (probably after several days or weeks when the new feathers come out) and some others suggest giving the chick a warm bath, washing the goo off maybe with a toothbrush, then drying it with a hairdryer.

So far the chick seems to be doing fine, eating, pooping and sleeping. He seems to be a tiny bit less active than his siblings and I had to separate them as they were pecking him. What is your experience? I can't help thinking he must be uncomfortable with his feathers like that. On the other hand, I don't want to give him a bath, if it's unnecessary. I would hate it if he died because of it after all he has gone through.

Please let me have your advice. I am attaching photos of the chick and his fluffy siblings.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Don’t bathe him he looks fine for recently hatching. Bathing a chick can put them in shock, stress them out and kill them. Absolutely an unnecessary risk for a something that is simply cosmetic. Unless the others were relentlessly going at him I would put him back with them. It’s normal for a chick that gets moved to the brooder a few hours later to get a little extra attention from the others at first. Keeping them separated now will only create a bigger issue when you go to reintegrate them later.

 

[krasi]

Don’t bathe him he looks fine for recently hatching. Bathing a chick can put them in shock, stress them out and kill them. Absolutely an unnecessary risk for a something that is simply cosmetic. Unless the others were relentlessly going at him I would put him back with them. It’s normal for a chick that gets moved to the brooder a few hours later to get a little extra attention from the others at first. Keeping them separated now will only create a bigger issue when you go to reintegrate them later.

Thank you for replying, bathing is counter intuitive, isn't it? OK I will try to re-introduce him to the others in the daytime, when I can keep an eye on them. They were not too bad the first time.