Gaping / open mouth in chicks?

[treehugger777]

I always thought it meant they were thirsty... But they have clean water and know how to drink.. Are they too warm maybe? Also the two yellow chicks do it most often. They are the biggest, fattest, and laziest of the bunch..
They just open their beak and live it open and breathe.. They are fine otherwise

 

[leadwolf1]

Sounds like they are panting...is your brooder too warm? Use a thermometer to check the temp.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Is the brooder large enough for them to go to a cool area of 60 degrees? They don't need or want to be hot all the time.

 

[suzeqf]

sounds like they are hot to me, my hens do this alot in the coop when it's hot and my chicks have done this when it gets hot and that's usually when i turn the light off during the day

 

[treehugger777]

very possible, that was one of my guesses, Ill put heat lamp further away. thanks

 

[hkmcdermid]

I rescued some chicks last night and they were doing this. I pulled a (recently purchased) heat lamp (250 watt infrared) up a bit higher and they stopped panting and seemed more comfortable sitting next to each other (rather than being spread apart from each other).