Cry Baby Chick Won't Stop Crying

[LadyVictorian]

So I have two chicks I picked up from work, my first is my little wry neck angel Whinny who is so calm and sweet and funny however I felt bad bringing her home alone so I got my other chick....Elsa.

Now Elsa is more high maintenance than my little wry neck who just loves life and everything is good until she has to have a dropper stuffed in her mouth. For those few seconds then it's horrible but she goes right back to her peppy self afterwards. Elsa on the other hand....cries and cries and cries no matter what I do or how much attention I give her and I am not sure why. She will calm down when she is eating and drinking and will huddle with Whinny for the most part but even when Whinny is awake or wanting to play with her Elsa will find every reason to walk, run, and flap about the brooder crying at the top of her lungs and WOW, those are some powerful tiny lungs she's got there.

I worried she felt lonely despite having Whinny in there so I pick her up to cuddle her, no deal, she wants no part of it and wants to walk around on the ground freely. I set her back down and she walks around then starts screaming again so I put her back in with Whinny. Then she walks around and starts crying again looking up at me and acting like she wants out of the brooder so I pick her up to cuddle her and she cries, the cycle continues as I move her around not really knowing what she wants. The temp is not too cold or too hot. Whinny walks around freely just fine and perfectly happy. They have food and water and Elsa is showing no signs of illness. She will literally keep herself awake despite the fact she is tired and cry and cry and cry.

Every now and again she will finally calm down for a short moment and curl up to sleep with Whinny but then in no time flat she is up walking around and crying again. Could something be wrong with her? Could she be bored? Could she be lonely despite having her wry neck room mate? I have never had a chick cry this much, not even my baby wry neck cries more than a little when I take Elsa out of the brooder and she gets lonely. She cries so much and I literally have no idea why she is doing it. I even gave her a mirror, stuffed animals, tunnels and caves, a little bird house nest box, and several perches and a bird swing just to keep her entertained but still not a **** thing has stopped her constant crying.

 

[junebuggena]

Constant cheeping is a sign of distress. Pictures of your brooder set up may help shed some light on what could be wrong.

 

[LadyVictorian]

 

[LadyVictorian]

She will cry outside her brooder, inside her brooder, even when I am watching her and she isn't stuck or anything and she cries on my bed and just about everywhere.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Also might I add this is the third version of the brooder I have kept them in. I used the original brooder for my silkies which is a big black bin, I then put them in a smaller brooder since it was only two of them. This third brooder I also used for my silkies when they were larger.

 

[junebuggena]

Too warm. Chicks need to be kept warm, but they also need a part of the brooder to be room temp so that they can cool off. Food and water should be placed as far from the heat lamp as possible. I also suggest remove the treat items from the brooder and only giving them unlimited amounts of chick starter and cool water with a vitamin and electrolyte solution mixed in. I would also remove the carrying box you brought them home in.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Problem being they didn't have any of that in the original brooder and still cried and on the opposite end of their original brooder it was only 65 degrees. (keeping them in my cold basement which is 40 degrees average) Directly under the headlamp it is 85 degrees. Don't you think colder than that would be too cold? They are less than a week old by the way.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Also opposite end of this brooder is 60 since it's a larger pen. Directly under it is 80 because the heat source is further away.

Also I can't put electrolytes into the water as I am currently treating Whinny for wry neck and have selenium in the water and am dosing her twice a day with poly-vi-sol.

 

[junebuggena]

Hard to read that thermometer in the photo. Looked like it was reading over 95. If it's only reading 85, it's too cool. Lower that lamp and get them both warmed up, but make sure that only one spot is getting warmed.

 

[LadyVictorian]

The thermometer is sort of awkwardly domed since my silkies had a habit of sitting and pooping on the original one and this one they can't climb on as well and slip off so I don't have to wash it off every day to read the temp.

Else isn't crying now and I haven't changed anything around but as soon as Whinny goes back to sleep I grantee she will start running around screaming again. Could Elsa also be getting lonely when Whinny goes into the nesting bag to sleep? She hides in there or else Elsa will keep waking her up so Whinny is trying to hide from her so she can sleep in peace. Elsa will step or run over Whinny while she is trying to sleep otherwise which is why I put the nesting bag in. Before she was trying to hide under a stuffed animal but with her wry neck I was worried she would suffocate herself under it.