Chick and Duckling won't sleep alone

[HardizzlesFlock]

I found a guy on the street corner selling chicks and ducklings out of a box... Long story short I now have a fawn runner and a cuckoo maran. My problem is that they scream if they aren't on my chest. They fall asleep on my chest and they scream in their brooder. What's wrong?

 

[HardizzlesFlock]

 

[red horse ranch]

I found a guy on the street corner selling chicks and ducklings out of a box... Long story short I now have a fawn runner and a cuckoo maran. My problem is that they scream if they aren't on my chest. They fall asleep on my chest and they scream in their brooder. What's wrong?

Do they have a heat lamp giving them 95 degree temperature? Have they been drinking and eating? Make sure they are drinking by dipping their beaks in the water so they know where it is. If they are just a few days old, which they look to be, they HAVE to have these things! They are also probably scared. They like your chest because it is warm and they feel safe after the rough day they've had.

And my opinion is that whoever was selling these babies on a street corner should be arrested for animal abuse!

 

[HardizzlesFlock]

Their brooder dropped to about 85 F . That's probably it. The guy said that people needed to take them or he was culling them. How could I resist those faces. In a few days they will go with my other chicks. Just wanted to make sure none had any noticeable diseases.

 

[red horse ranch]

Their brooder dropped to about 85 F . That's probably it. The guy said that people needed to take them or he was culling them. How could I resist those faces. In a few days they will go with my other chicks. Just wanted to make sure none had any noticeable diseases.

Thank you for rescuing them.

Just hope the rest of them are as lucky.

 

[HardizzlesFlock]

Me too. I could only take a few of them or else I would have taken them all!!

 

[Justyolking]

I have a similar situation with our youngest chick (now 1 wk old). She will sleep in the brooder with her flock (2 are a wk older, and 4 are two wks older). They all get along, and she is warm enough with the heat lamp, and eating, drinking, popping fine. Acts perfectly healthy, but every time, I pick her up, she is asleep within seconds. And not just close her eyes and relax, but completely limp and out for as long as I'll hold her (like over an hour while watching TV last night).
My theory is that being younger,she requires more sleep than the others, and they are keeping her up, so she's sleep deprived. I'm trying to give her chances to nap with me when I have time to hold her for a while, hoping this will help her catch up, and keep stress down. Is it possible to spoil a chick? Should I let her just get the sleep she can with her brooder mates? Or continue to give her mommy "snuggle time", as my kids call it, when possible?

 

[misbhaven]

Try giving them an old dish towel or small stuffed animal to cuddle..ducklings love to cuddle but they imprint easily you will be mom which may be cute at a week old but not at a year old...

 

[red horse ranch]

I have a similar situation with our youngest chick (now 1 wk old). She will sleep in the brooder with her flock (2 are a wk older, and 4 are two wks older). They all get along, and she is warm enough with the heat lamp, and eating, drinking, popping fine. Acts perfectly healthy, but every time, I pick her up, she is asleep within seconds. And not just close her eyes and relax, but completely limp and out for as long as I'll hold her (like over an hour while watching TV last night).
My theory is that being younger,she requires more sleep than the others, and they are keeping her up, so she's sleep deprived. I'm trying to give her chances to nap with me when I have time to hold her for a while, hoping this will help her catch up, and keep stress down. Is it possible to spoil a chick? Should I let her just get the sleep she can with her brooder mates? Or continue to give her mommy "snuggle time", as my kids call it, when possible?

I think you are right about them not getting as much sleep as they need and this gives them a chance to sleep soundly.
I don't know if I would call it 'spoiling' them. What you are doing is making a lifelong pet that will always enjoy being picked up and treated special. And there's
nothing wrong with that!