First Night in Coop! Sad Chicks!

tjo804 · Jul 2, 2018

Zinjifrah · Jul 2, 2018

I was thinking night before last how much I need some cameras in the coop and run... I just put some chicks out, too, in the isolation/integration pen. Three days old! They have heat, it's warm out - the heat goes off during the day, it's so warm, and they get a bottle of ice in there instead. Suffice to say I was nervous as a cat with twenty kittens night before last. The chicks couldn't care less. I get up at 2 a.m. (there's a light, so I can see them quickly... only in the pen, not the main coop) they're running around, playing, eating and drinking, not even using the heat pad! I was expecting some distress, like with the OP's chicks... nope. They love it, they're happier, they're healthy and fascinated by watching the bigger chicks. They saw one of the EE pullets eating a weed, and immediately there were eight little beaks trying to get through the hardware cloth to the same kind of weed just outside the pen.

Coop de Grass · Jul 2, 2018

Zinjifrah said:
I was thinking night before last how much I need some cameras in the coop and run... I just put some chicks out, too, in the isolation/integration pen. Three days old! They have heat, it's warm out - the heat goes off during the day, it's so warm, and they get a bottle of ice in there instead. Suffice to say I was nervous as a cat with twenty kittens night before last. The chicks couldn't care less. I get up at 2 a.m. (there's a light, so I can see them quickly... only in the pen, not the main coop) they're running around, playing, eating and drinking, not even using the heat pad! I was expecting some distress, like with the OP's chicks... nope. They love it, they're happier, they're healthy and fascinated by watching the bigger chicks. They saw one of the EE pullets eating a weed, and immediately there were eight little beaks trying to get through the hardware cloth to the same kind of weed just outside the pen.

I wonder if it has something to do with how many chicks are together? The more, the merrier because they feel secure? The only time I've had just a handful of chicks, they've been under a broody, so it is very different. When I hatch in the incubator and am introducing them to the flock, there are at least a dozen, they go into the smaller coop when the temps permit, and they have parallel play time for several weeks before they get any interaction at all.

Zinjifrah · Jul 2, 2018

Coop de Grass said:
I wonder if it has something to do with how many chicks are together? The more, the merrier because they feel secure? The only time I've had just a handful of chicks, they've been under a broody, so it is very different. When I hatch in the incubator and am introducing them to the flock, there are at least a dozen, they go into the smaller coop when the temps permit, and they have parallel play time for several weeks before they get any interaction at all.

That could be. I figured, in my case, that they were still so young they hadn't really imprinted on the brooder as 'home'. I'm pretty new to chickens, still, but I know with some wild herd animals a female will go off, give birth, and bring the offspring back at about three days old - when it's up and walking, moving well enough to keep up and get out of the way of trouble. Purely speculation, on my part!

Shezadandy · Jul 2, 2018

Coop de Grass said:
You are not alone! My first broody (no rooster, so fertile eggs) led to a wifi camera in the coop, then another one pointed at the opposite wall, then 1 outside in the run! It sounds eggcessive, but it has come in handy! Our coop is about 150' from the house so we need to use a wifi extender!

Those cameras are the best reality tv.

That's fabulous! Now I know what to ask for for Christmas!!! At least two for each coop, a couple/three for the run, one for outside the coop/run .... Yes, absolutely the best TV around. :jumpy

Oh- one for the goat house too!!

Zinjifrah · Jul 2, 2018

Shezadandy said:
That's fabulous! Now I know what to ask for for Christmas!!! At least two for each coop, a couple/three for the run, one for outside the coop/run .... Yes, absolutely the best TV around. Oh- one for the goat house too!!

Was joking with someone online during my 'chickwatch' night about needing cameras, and she got all excited. SHE wants to watch chick-cam, too! She started coming up with a whole plan for me to install cameras, post them to... some site where people pay to watch... livestreaming fluffy butts 24-7. That sounded like way, way too much work, when I just want to be sure they're okay!

Shezadandy · Jul 2, 2018

Zinjifrah said:
Was joking with someone online during my 'chickwatch' night about needing cameras, and she got all excited. SHE wants to watch chick-cam, too! She started coming up with a whole plan for me to install cameras, post them to... some site where people pay to watch... livestreaming fluffy butts 24-7. That sounded like way, way too much work, when I just want to be sure they're okay!

Oh yeah -- like what they do at some humane society websites- they have those remotely operated toys you can activate online and "play" with a kitten from however many states away-- and of course watch them frolic. =) Tehehe Yes- I would keep it closed circuit myself- that is an idea for somebody though!