Can Chicks be Spoiled?!

[ChinaMomto2]

Our chicks have been with us about 10 days and were newly hatched the day before we got them. They have a nice clean pen in our house - my kids are in love with them and clean out every little poo they make LOL! I don't have a thermometer, but we have a heat lamp at one end of the long brooder so that if they get hot they can go to the other. They have fresh water and constant chicken crumbles. But sometimes they just start carrying on like the house is on fire. They never do it if my teens are in the room and when I go in they are often running up and down one side of the brooder craning their necks up trying to see over the cloth wrap we have over the bottom part of the wire cage they are in.

I feel helpless to know what to do for them, but I wonder if it is possible they just want someone in there with them? Can chicks be spoiled like that?

Wondering in Georgia! Jan

 

[cavemanrich]

They are just happy to see you. Enjoy them.

 

[kyexotics]

"""Can Chicks be Spoiled?!"""

Thankfully, YES! And they appreciate it by giving back mega-love!...If we really build the bond(lots of treats and hand time), we've found it never breaks, I can still sit in the coops and they;'ll jump up and lay on my legs, like they did as babies....

 

[azygous]

Yes, of course, they get accustomed to attention, and treats, and expect it and demand it.

But sometimes an insect or even just a speck on a surface can set them all off on a frenzy of activity. They are new to the world, and just like human babies, everything is a stimulus.

Congrats on your first post and welcome to BYC!

 

[ChinaMomto2]

Well I feel better to know they can want us to be in there with them! They are so much fun and we are enjoying them more than we thought - my kids just sit with them and watch them quite a lot, and I join them when I can. I DO wish they would not wake me up so often, especially considering the other pets do this at times as well, but I guess that is part of the process!

Thanks for the welcome. I am all about all things chicken right now, so it's great to have a place to go and ask questions and hopefully someday I can answer some!

 

[azygous]

Do you have the light on them 24 hours a day? If you can figure a way to give them a break at night from the bright light, they would sleep all night and not wake you up.

From the very start, I block the light from the heat lamp with a red cloth. It encourages the chicks to settle in and sleep at night instead of being restless.

There is also the option of using the heating pad method of heating the chicks and that naturally provides them with darkness at night. When I get my next chicks in May, the "chick cave" with "mama heating pad" is the way I plan to provide the heat. Read about it on this forum. It's a terrific idea!

 

[ChinaMomto2]

We do have the light on 24 hours as it said they needed 90 degrees in their second week. It's been chilly here in Georgia. The funny thing about the light - or not so funny - is that we bought a red bulb but in less than 24 hours it had turned bright white. It's so hot I'm afraid to put a cloth over it. It is warming up this week and we maybe can shut it down after they read two weeks next Wednesday. Thanks for the tip - I will look up the chick cave, especially as we plan to get three more chicks when these go into the coop!

 

[azygous]

Try not to be a slave to the heat recommendations for chicks. Most of the time, those guidelines end up being hotter than chicks actually are comfortable under. My last two batches of chicks didn't like it any warmer than 85 the first week and 80 the second. I quickly switched the 250 watt heat lamp for a 100 watt incandescent bulb and it gave off plenty of heat to keep the chicks at the temp they liked.

You do need to be careful the cloth doesn't touch the bulb, but since the cloth is draped over the top of the brooder under the light, it shouldn't be any danger of falling onto the light. Unless your light fell, and I'm sure you've secured it well.

Watch the chicks' behavior. They should be sleeping at night spread out under the light. If it's too warm, they'll be hanging around the periphery. If it's not warm enough, they'll be clumping together in a tight heap right underneath.

Those temp guidelines are mainly for establishing a starting point and for calibrating the height of the lamp to begin with when the chicks first take up residence in the brooder. From then on, their behavior should dictate the temperature and height of the heat lamp, not the thermometer.

 

[ChinaMomto2]

Thanks for the tips! It doesn't actually feel 90 and they seem comfortable, pecking and walking all around the brooder, playing with bits of paper. They do seem to sleep at the other end from it, though, and I think next week we will cut it off in the daytime. We take them out a few times a day - onto the floor in the house - and they love it, hopping comically in the air and playing tug-of-war with shreds of paper, chasing each other around. They are delightful! They are silver-laced Wyandottes by the way - I see you have a couple of those!

 

[azygous]

Wyandottes are excellent layers. I have three that are in their sixth year of laying, and doing it regularly. The other Wyandotte is five, also laying well. But, I hope you have better luck taming yours than I have. The Wyandotte breed tends to be stand-offish, and mine refuse to be handled. It's a battle of my wits against theirs to try to catch them when I need to treat them for anything.

If you make sure you approach your Wyandottes carefully at their level, never from overhead, and handle them often, probably yours will grow up tame and easy to handle. Mine were my first batch of chicks raised from day-olds, and I had a brooder on the floor. I was ignorant and carelessly reached into the box from above, and the chicks were scared to death of me. Each day, they became worse. The result was adult hens, and two roosters, that hated to be touched. Thankfully, I figured it out by the time I got my next chicks, and I made a side-access brooder for them. The difference in those chicks, as well as subsequent ones, and the Wyandottes is dramatic to say the least.