Chicks are scared of the dark!

[swellhoneyfarm]

I have an extreme case of my chicks scared of the dark!!! I started out with 125 chicks mixed austrolorps and americanas, they are about 10 weeks old. For the first month and a half I had the heat lamp (red) on all of the time. About 2-3 weeks ago i started to use it less and less mainly only on the colder nights. I found 1 dead chick about 1 week ago. I wasn't sure of the cause but there wasn't any signs of predation or cannibalism. I thought it just died, things happen. For the past 3 mornings I have found multiple dead chicks, same symptoms, nothing just flattened chickens. Just tonight I allowed the chicks to go to bed on there own as i usually do. About 1/2 hr after dark i went to close there door for the night. The chicks were all piled up in one corner of the coop. I scattered the crowd and found 5 more dead ones. I am sure they were not there before bed time. Up until tonight i wasn't sure of the cause but i am certain that they just piled up on top of each other and the unlucky ones on the bottom don't make it. The light is back on, i really hope i don't find any dead in the morning. Any thoughts or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Quyen Le]

When it's cold and wet, chicks usually stack up on each other to get warm. I found 21 dead when it's getting cold and the coop was crowded. I don't think that's light problem since I got light in my coop at that time.

 

[ercelelmer]

I have 48 Red Ranger chicks and one fancy bird free from the hatchery, mcmurrayhatchery they are now 4 weeks old and have had a 250 watt white infrared heat lamp on at night until last night. Night time temps in the 80's. I have had them outside during the day for the last week any time it is dry. They have still been able to go into the coop any time they wanted. I built a roost about two days ago and have had some roosting at night. maybe three or four.Tonight I wanted to try them with no light so I left them out until they wanted to go into the coop when I checked them they were piling up and because it is still warm I didn't want to use the heat lamp. I tried a small night light but it didn't help. I then put a small red light in they quit piling and they are almost all sleeping. This is the first time that they have slept all at once. I will update when I see how they do transitioning from bright white light to total darkness. I hope this helps.

 

[ercelelmer]

sorry I posted this twice so I took one down

 

[ercelelmer]

I have used the red light for a few nights now and had no problems, tonight I chased them in an hour before sunset. I was hoping to let the coop get dark and see if they would roost, they did not. As it got darker and darker they began to clump together. I turned on the small night light, enough that I could see. It did not stop them from being a little panicked. I then went in and began settting them one by one on the roost, quite a few stayed on and began to sleep. the rest then quieted down and went to sleep in various places on the floor.