Day old chicks with mixed signals

appleacres

Chirping
Feb 9, 2021
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Hello everyone,

I have fifteen day old chicks that arrived safely today! I took the day off and spent about three hours watching them and settling them in. I checked and cleaned up some pasty butt, and they are all eating and drinking and running around with vigor. However--they seem to be a bit confused when it comes to heat.

I have a Brinsea heat plate, and they mostly seem to ignore it, I've tucked them in a few times, and sometimes they'll stay for about ten minutes, but they prefer to be under the heat lamp (I was planning on just using the heat lamp for the first day or two to make sure they stay warm after shipment, and then just keeping the room at 70 and using the plate, so I'd like them to get used to the plate). But...when my thermometer reads 95 degrees they all huddle together (for the most part) under the lamp chirping and press themselves up against the warm edge of the box. When I lower the lamp a bit (100-105 degrees) they quiet down and go to sleep, but then eventually start panting (some of them), but the ones who pant don't move, they just stay under the lamp even though there's an area of the box that's 85-90 degrees. Some put their head under the heat plate and their body under the lamp. Sometimes they are all asleep and one guy keeps chirping. I've checked with 3 calibrated thermometers, so the temp is reading right. They just don't exactly seem to be following what I've read are the typical reactions to levels of heat. Should I keep it a bit warmer, or are they not smart enough to go to the more temperate side of the box if they overheat and I should keep it at 95 even if they're chirping and huddling? Maybe the chirping is just getting used to the new home? (It's not all of them chirping at once).

On another note--at least one or two of them seem to be having very soft poop that comes out with a big wet clear stain around it--is this normal after shipping? I initially gave them a drop of nutridrench, but have now switched to plain water.

Thanks!
 
Hello everyone,

I have fifteen day old chicks that arrived safely today! I took the day off and spent about three hours watching them and settling them in. I checked and cleaned up some pasty butt, and they are all eating and drinking and running around with vigor. However--they seem to be a bit confused when it comes to heat.

I have a Brinsea heat plate, and they mostly seem to ignore it, I've tucked them in a few times, and sometimes they'll stay for about ten minutes, but they prefer to be under the heat lamp (I was planning on just using the heat lamp for the first day or two to make sure they stay warm after shipment, and then just keeping the room at 70 and using the plate, so I'd like them to get used to the plate). But...when my thermometer reads 95 degrees they all huddle together (for the most part) under the lamp chirping and press themselves up against the warm edge of the box. When I lower the lamp a bit (100-105 degrees) they quiet down and go to sleep, but then eventually start panting (some of them), but the ones who pant don't move, they just stay under the lamp even though there's an area of the box that's 85-90 degrees. Some put their head under the heat plate and their body under the lamp. Sometimes they are all asleep and one guy keeps chirping. I've checked with 3 calibrated thermometers, so the temp is reading right. They just don't exactly seem to be following what I've read are the typical reactions to levels of heat. Should I keep it a bit warmer, or are they not smart enough to go to the more temperate side of the box if they overheat and I should keep it at 95 even if they're chirping and huddling? Maybe the chirping is just getting used to the new home? (It's not all of them chirping at once).

On another note--at least one or two of them seem to be having very soft poop that comes out with a big wet clear stain around it--is this normal after shipping? I initially gave them a drop of nutridrench, but have now switched to plain water.

Thanks!
just a quick tip, keep the nutridrench, it helped with my pasty butt, like a lot
 
I would mix the Nutri-Drench into their water for the next few days, for shipping stress.

I think they're confused by having the heat plate and the lamp (which also emits light) - I'd remove the light entirely. After that, tuck them under the heat plate so they understand that that's where it's warm.
 

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