Baby chicks are known to have fluffy feathers, it’s one of the reasons why people like baby chicks so much
However, some baby chicks won’t have fluffy feathers or will lose their fluffy feathers. This article looks into why this happens
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Baby chick feathers not fluffy:
Baby chicks are known to be very fragile, a lot can injure them and a lot can make them sick.
Because of this, figuring out why a baby chick is acting or looking oddly is a must.
Here is why your baby chicks feathers are not fluffy:
The bird is shrink wrapped:
If the baby chick in question has just hatched, and its feathers are stuck to its body, and are not fluffy, then the bird may be shrink wrapped.
This is how shrink wrapping happens:
The egg shell has an inner membrane and this membrane is kept moist while the chick is growing in the egg.
Because the membrane is moist it does not touch or stick to the chick.
A chick will become shrink wrapped if the eggshell membrane becomes stuck to its body.
A shrink wrapped bird won’t come out with fluffy feathers, but rather, its feathers will stick to its body.
Shrink wrapping happens because the humidity in the incubator is allowed to drop.
This causes the membrane to lose moisture, shrink and dry onto the chick’s body.
What to do:
You can get the dried membrane off of the bird by wetting the membrane.
Fill a mug, or a similar-sized cup, with warm water and leave the baby bird inside to soak.
After soaking, gently remove the membrane, it should be soft by then.
Keep an eye on the water so that it doesn’t cool off. If the water cools add some very warm water to the cup.
Once the membrane is removed you can take the bird out, dry the chick with a towel and then blowdry the bird.
Set the blow dryer on low, and allow the bird to move closer, or farther, to and from the drier.
The bird should come out fluffy
You can keep any future chicks from becoming shrink wrapped in the future by making sure that the humidity levels in the incubator are maintained throughout the incubation.
Sticky chick:
This is another example of issues with the incubator causing issues with your bird.
If the humidity levels in the bird’s incubator are too high, then the liquid in the egg around the bird, the albumen, may not evaporate as it should.
This will cause the bird to hatch with albumen stuck to its feathers.
The albumen will dry onto the bird’s feathers and make them dry. This will keep the birds feathers from fluffing up
What to do:
The remedy for this situation is the same as the remedy for a shrink-wrapped bird.
Put the bird in a mug of warm water and then dry it off.
Keep this from happening in the future by makings sure that the humidity settings in the incubator are correct throughout.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Baby Cockatiel Not Begging For Food, Baby Chick Losing Weight, Why Is My Chicken Not Gaining Weight, Chick Not Gaining Weight, Chicken Trouble Swallowing, How To Help A Choking Chicken, Chicken Looks Like It’s Choking, Baby Chick Having Trouble Swallowing, Chicken Can’t Swallow Food