# How to rid of dried poop on feet?



## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

*Hi everyone,
First I hope you all had a safe and happy 4th of July.
Anyway, I have a pair of babies that just come out of their nest and they have dried poops on the nails of their toes... How in the world can I get it off?? It's really hard. How can I avoid this in the furture? These babies were raised in a milk crate and the eggs were laid before I could even get a nest bowl in there. I know, the nest bowl would have helped prevented this, but like I said, they laid the eggs before I put the bowl in there.

Russ*


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

My dad uses his pocket knife to chip away most of it, and then breaks off what little is left with his finger nails. I always think he's going to slice into the toe nail but he doesn't. His knife isn't that sharp anyway, LOL. I'd prefer to soak the toes in warm soapy water to loosen it up first.


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## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

*Becky, I just soaked them in water and used borax, but the stuff is not coming off.... I guess I can try to scrap it off with a dull knife, but am afraid of doing it like that..... I will try to soak them again before nightfall & scrape them too.*


MaryOfExeter said:


> My dad uses his pocket knife to chip away most of it, and then breaks off what little is left with his finger nails. I always think he's going to slice into the toe nail but he doesn't. His knife isn't that sharp anyway, LOL. I'd prefer to soak the toes in warm soapy water to loosen it up first.


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## Keith C. (Jan 25, 2005)

Russ, I suggest putting a towel in the bottom of a bucket with about 1 inch of warm water covering it. The towel will provide good footing and friction against the ball.
Put the pigeons in, cover the top of the bucket with another, dry towel to keep the pigeons calm in the dark and to prevent them from hurting themselves, if they try to get out and leave the pigeons in for about an hour. The poop balls will soften up and fall off.


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

Use warm water just take your time. When it gets wet enough it will come of Warm water soaks in better. Also when its balled up on the toes you can take pliers and sqeeze it the ball breaks Be careful. And if they can stand Not fly stand them in a pan of warm water for about 5 minutes. Anytime after the young hatch you could of cleaned and added nesting material. Be surprised even old wd 40 would soak in and you could get them clean just do not get it on the feathers.


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## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

Would baby oil help?


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## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

*Thanks Keith. Hey, is your inbox full?? I have sent you a couple PMs'.*


Keith C. said:


> Russ, I suggest putting a towel in the bottom of a bucket with about 1 inch of warm water covering it. The towel will provide good footing and friction against the ball.
> Put the pigeons in, cover the top of the bucket with another, dry towel to keep the pigeons calm in the dark and to prevent them from hurting themselves, if they try to get out and leave the pigeons in for about an hour. The poop balls will soften up and fall off.


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## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

*Thanks Re Lee*


re lee said:


> Use warm water just take your time. When it gets wet enough it will come of Warm water soaks in better. Also when its balled up on the toes you can take pliers and sqeeze it the ball breaks Be careful. And if they can stand Not fly stand them in a pan of warm water for about 5 minutes. Anytime after the young hatch you could of cleaned and added nesting material. Be surprised even old wd 40 would soak in and you could get them clean just do not get it on the feathers.


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

One of my recent rescue finds was like this & I did exactly what Keith has said, it did soften it a bit then I used a small toothbrush (the kind with soft & hard bristles) to gently stroke towards the nails and it came off fine.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

take a sopping warm wash cloth and hold that around the poopy area. Within a very few minutes the edges start to soften and then most often the poop can be broken apart with your finger nails.
I just used this method just last week to get a huge piece of hardened horse poop off the side of a squeaker's head.


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## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

*I finally got the poop off, it was easy. I soaked a cotton ball in baby oil and wrapped it around the feet and also soaked their feet in the baby oil for a couple of minutes, it then fell right off.......*


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## M Kurps (Mar 19, 2009)

I use my thumb nail while it is dry and split it at the underside of the toe nail 1 2 3 done, works great a rarely do i make a toenail bleed.
Kurps


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## rackerman (Jul 29, 2009)

*Has anyone ever tried the baby oil? Worked great for me...*


rackerman said:


> *I finally got the poop off, it was easy. I soaked a cotton ball in baby oil and wrapped it around the feet and also soaked their feet in the baby oil for a couple of minutes, it then fell right off.......*


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