Chick won't stop chirping! AHHHHHH!

[SillyJillie]

This one chick, only stops chirping when she's in my hand. The brooder is warm enough, all the other chicks are fine. This particular one won't even try to cuddle up with the rest of them. I put feather dusters in, the rest use it; she won't. This one has almost been a problem form before the time she hatched; We had to intervene with the hatching process as she became shrink wrapped from taking too long to come out. She literally had her beak and eyes out (and open) just chirping in the egg for two days. Oh, and she was fine for the first 3 days of her life - This just started 2 days ago - She's by far the smallest (D'Uccle) of them all. Is she just cold? Crazy? I don't know what else to do, we've tried everything. I'm afraid if I hold her ALL day, she will dehydrate or starve to death. HELP! I'M AT WITS END!!!





UPDATE: Poor little Peanut didn't make it :'{ I wish I knew what was wrong

 

[Pork Pie]

Is she getting access to food and water. Just wondering if she is being bullied?

 

[AllynTal]

Are the chicks getting a natural day/night cycle? If you're using that medieval torture device most people call a brooder lamp and it's on 24/7, she might be stressed from not getting a proper sleep period, being too hot/too cold, or as CTKen asked, she might be bullied and not getting food and water.......or she might just want attention and now she has you trained.

Seems like in each hatch, I've had one that would raise a kerfuffle, just chirping its little head off. I would observe to make sure it was eating and drinking, and then when the chirping starts, I'd stick it under the heating pad (I use a heating pad instead of the brooder lamp), and eventually it shuts up and works it out. If you still have them in the house, ignoring the incessant chirping isn't easy, I can imagine.

 

[SillyJillie]

plenty of access, not being bullied

 

[SillyJillie]

I have them near enough a window that they do get actual daylight. Come to think of it, it's been rainy the last few days that she's done this, so maybe that's the answer? I did lower the lamp and she's since stopped (about two hours now) Should I take the lamp away and put a heating pad under the (cardboard) box they're in? I've also force fed her some watered down yogurt today since I haven't seen her eat or drink, just sleep.

 

[AllynTal]

I have them near enough a window that they do get actual daylight. Come to think of it, it's been rainy the last few days that she's done this, so maybe that's the answer? I did lower the lamp and she's since stopped (about two hours now) Should I take the lamp away and put a heating pad under the (cardboard) box they're in? I've also force fed her some watered down yogurt today since I haven't seen her eat or drink, just sleep.

Actual daylight isn't as much the answer as giving them actual darkness. The brooder lamps are typically turned on 24/7 so the chicks never get a proper dark period. I wouldn't suggest taking away the lamp and giving them a heating pad without reading at least the first dozen pages of this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

She doesn't have pasty butt or any physical ailment that would cause her stress, does she?

 

[SillyJillie]

That's funny - I actually follow this thread. Nope, no pasty butt. Nothing else physical that I can see. I just gave her extra fine crumbles in a dish and put her in it then I put my hand over her and she started eating like there was no tomorrow. I'm starting to wonder if she's 'special needs'

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I'm by far, not any sort of expert on chickens, but I do have my own experience. (6 years worth if that is anything)

When a chick continuously peeps like that, it is sick or unwell. When it wants to cuddle all the time, its basically the equivalent of when you have the flu and just want to stay under warm covers or get pampered by a loved one. So I would say, something is wrong.

I had one (A continuous peeper) that had hatched out of a pullet's sized egg. She was a mixed breed but both parents were breeds that are very large. So, while she was forming, she ended up not really having a lot of room in that small egg. She needed help hatching, which I did (yes, I know you are not supposed to do that, but if its going to die anyway why not help?) And she did live. But for the first few days of her life, maybe the whole week... it was non-stop peeping. (Even the broody hen that hatched her left her be) When I inspected her, I found that she was kind of bent in a way in which she could not move her legs so well. She was kind of hunched. I figured this was from being in a small egg (my fault as I didn't realize pullet eggs are not good to use for hatching).

Here is a picture of her:


I named her "Little Bear" because she looked like a teddy bear the way she was sitting there, peeping. She was a special needs hen only in the fact she did not have an ear hole on one side of her head. It would get infected and swollen, which would need cleaning out every once in a while. Even the vet was stumped for a while- thought maybe she had some bug bite her and get infected. Sadly, I lost her due to a fast car on our country road last year. Except for her ear problem she was fine.

Anyway, right now, I have a blind serama chick that also peeps non stop. She is three weeks old. I don't expect her to get much better at this point, but she has developed enough that she is now starting to eat on her own... but its been a long time coming. She still can't drink on her own only because she spills her water. This is where I have to go find some sort of water dish that she can't spill and is shallow enough she can't drown in it by accident. She also calms down only when I hold her and she too will let me hold her for HOURS if possible, without food or water... so I am in a similar boat as you with this one. I admit the constant peeping drives me crazy, but I agreed to take on this scenario and she has made so much progress so far. I do think her peeping now is probably more of a way of echo-location since she is blind. Helps her find her way around objects in her cage.

Perhaps your little bird will stop peeping so much after some time- once hatched, they are not fully developed yet, so its possible that yours just needs a bit more hang time to finish up. I wanted to ask you though- did you have any eggs that didn't hatch but were fully formed? If this is the case, it is also more likely that the eggs were exposed to some sort of pathogen that would cause defects. With my Serama chick I had 3 fully formedbut didn't hatch- and when opened one had its brains fully exposed. The other two looked ok, but probably had same or similar internal problems as the chick I'm caring for now and just didnt' make it. I'd advise giving some vitamins to your little chick... perhaps that is what it needs to fight off any problems... You'd be really surprised how much it can help!

But both of these chicks peeped constantly, although the first one mentioned did stop eventually when her legs seemed to stretch out by use.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Oh realized I didn't say everything...

If your little peep needs help eating then you can get a certain brand of baby bird food called Kay Tee Exact. Mix it up according to the directions- not too soupy though- and get a needleless syringe and put the food in it and squirt little amounts into her beak... maybe start with half CC every hour? Depends on the size of your bird and what she needs... like a human baby, you will just know if she needs more. It might be possible to ground up regular chick feed too, but i never had much luck getting that to be smooth enough to squeeze out of a syringe. Also, be aware that you can accidenly choke your bird if you put the food too fast or too way back in the beak. I aim for the middle front. They don't like having their beaks pryed open, but they do eagarly eat the food!

I feel the crop when I am done feeding to see if she got well fed.. You don't want an overstuffed crop, nor do you want it so that you can feel hardly anything in there. Again, it depends on the size of your peep.

OH and if she is feeling unwell, it may be that a higher temperature might help her be more calm. Not too hot, but maybe a few more degrees (5) than what she has now might help.

 

[azygous]

Bocktobery has made a lot of excellent points. I would like to stress that a constant chirping chick is not well. Just like new human infants that cry constantly, you can be certain something is wrong.

Just the fact of having a big struggle getting hatched indicates she's, at the very least, attempting to overcome that stressful effect on her tiny body. Getting some Poultry Nutri-drench and dosing her daily will give her the help she needs to get jump-started.

These chicks such as you are dealing with have a tendency to have pooping problems, either constipation or diarrhea, so you need to monitor the poop and intervene with some coconut oil if she quits pooping or you see the turds are tiny and hard. This can cause a great deal of pain and the chick may die from it.