gaping baby chick

[chuckachucka]

I have a little booted bantam chick who shot out of his shell around four hours ago. Never seen one hatch so fast after external pip. Anyway he seemed fine for a while but in the last half an hour I have noticed him opening and closing his beak in the brooder. He opens it and keeps it open for a few seconds then closes it. Not lifting his head up while he does it or anything, just opening the beak. He is in and out of sleep and lying around under the heat lamp, very lethargic but that is normal after hatching, right?

Anyone know why he would be doing this? Could he have eaten a piece of the shavings in the brooder? I dipped his beak in water and he drank it, bit is still doing the gaping thing. Help!

 

[TattooedChicks]

Mine do this too from time to time, it’s like a silent burp or more likely just stretching and adjusting the crop. Is he doing it a lot or just occasionally?

 

[chuckachucka]

I've seen chicks do the yawning thing but this is different, he doesn't tilt his head up, only opens the beak. It did it quite a few times. It just freaked me out because he is a lone chick to hatch in my new homemade incubator after the other five in the catch didn't develop (they were from ebay). He hatched right on day 21 but im paranoid I did something wrong in incubation and there could be something wrong with him!

 

[chuckachucka]

I think he might have been too hot. I dont have a thermometer right under the heat source now.i measured it earlier before chickie went in but it must have gotten too hot.

 

[TattooedChicks]

That is a little odd, best you can probably do is keep him eating and drinking and supported with vitamins. Panting from excess heat might explain some of it too. See if it improves over the next few days.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have a little booted bantam chick who shot out of his shell around four hours ago. Never seen one hatch so fast after external pip. Anyway he seemed fine for a while but in the last half an hour I have noticed him opening and closing his beak in the brooder. He opens it and keeps it open for a few seconds then closes it. Not lifting his head up while he does it or anything, just opening the beak. He is in and out of sleep and lying around under the heat lamp, very lethargic but that is normal after hatching, right?

Anyone know why he would be doing this? Could he have eaten a piece of the shavings in the brooder? I dipped his beak in water and he drank it, bit is still doing the gaping thing. Help!

Man, single hatches really stink for the loner.. but glad it made it.

I will say... a chick should not be on shavings directly after hatch. They need to be on a paper towel or other rough surface (not slippery news paper) until they KNOW food and water. Otherwise the ingestion of shaving is a high possibility. I usually remove my paper towels around day 3. And just put a little crumble on it for them to peck at. Once they are pecking at it good, or rather actually eating regularly then I put it in a feeder. Once they are clearly eating from the feeder, then I remove the paper towels.

At 4 hours old... the babe should be doing not much other than sleeping. Yes, hatching is a difficult task so sleepy probably isn't the same as lethargy, which isn't what you should be seeing this early. With an occasional peck at something. Mine don't even come out of the brooder for at LEAST 24 hours after day 21.

Doesn't sound like a heat problem. That would be indicated by wings spread wide and panting, mouth staying open. Are you able to post a video? Is this your first hatch? Maybe you are just super vigilant noticing every movement?

I usually start them on vitamin and electrolyte water, homemade. Poultry nutridrench is good if you have it.

Simple electrolyte recipe... 2 cups warm water, 2 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon EACH salt and baking soda. Stir until dissolved (add vitamins or nutri drench if you have it) and serve full strength. Never supplement anything more than 10 days.

Hope your baby is good... it's already tried to make a name for itself, the way it "rocketed" out of the egg shell. Sounds like it might be strong baby, hatching on the right day and all really adds up! Probably just recovering still from the hard work.

 

[ronott1]

I think he might have been too hot. I dont have a thermometer right under the heat source now.i measured it earlier before chickie went in but it must have gotten too hot.

It does sound like it is too hot. Set he spot directly under the lamp to 90.

Make sure to dip it's beak into water too.

 

[chuckachucka]

Man, single hatches really stink for the loner.. but glad it made it.

I will say... a chick should not be on shavings directly after hatch. They need to be on a paper towel or other rough surface (not slippery news paper) until they KNOW food and water. Otherwise the ingestion of shaving is a high possibility. I usually remove my paper towels around day 3. And just put a little crumble on it for them to peck at. Once they are pecking at it good, or rather actually eating regularly then I put it in a feeder. Once they are clearly eating from the feeder, then I remove the paper towels.

At 4 hours old... the babe should be doing not much other than sleeping. Yes, hatching is a difficult task so sleepy probably isn't the same as lethargy, which isn't what you should be seeing this early. With an occasional peck at something. Mine don't even come out of the brooder for at LEAST 24 hours after day 21.

Doesn't sound like a heat problem. That would be indicated by wings spread wide and panting, mouth staying open. Are you able to post a video? Is this your first hatch? Maybe you are just super vigilant noticing every movement?

I usually start them on vitamin and electrolyte water, homemade. Poultry nutridrench is good if you have it.

Simple electrolyte recipe... 2 cups warm water, 2 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon EACH salt and baking soda. Stir until dissolved (add vitamins or nutri drench if you have it) and serve full strength. Never supplement anything more than 10 days.

Hope your baby is good... it's already tried to make a name for itself, the way it "rocketed" out of the egg shell. Sounds like it might be strong baby, hatching on the right day and all really adds up! Probably just recovering still from the hard work.

Thanks for you great advice about the paper towels instead of shavings. He was definitely trying to eat them, so I have swapped them out.
The temperature was too high after all, so I have adjusted it to be 90 on floor level under the lamp. There has been no gaping since and little Popcorn has been eating a tiny bit of chick crumbs softened with water and drinking some.

Here is Popcorn (sorry for the bad photo quality):

 

[chickens really]

Congrats..Cute Chick. No need to wet its feed. Chicks do best on dry feed..Try and locate a few chicks so he won't be alone. A mirror and Teddy work great for lonely Chicks.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thanks for you great advice about the paper towels instead of shavings. He was definitely trying to eat them, so I have swapped them out.
The temperature was too high after all, so I have adjusted it to be 90 on floor level under the lamp. There has been no gaping since and little Popcorn has been eating a tiny bit of chick crumbs softened with water and drinking some.

Here is Popcorn (sorry for the bad photo quality):

I completely agree with @chickens really. All feed stores are just getting their chicks, so it would be nice if you hot her a friend or two.

And I should mention that for brand new chicks, especially bantam... I crush the chick crumbles a bit more. Turns out my large fowl shipped chicks that arrived yesterday also seemed to enjoy it crushed a little more. I do this for the Silkies for at least the first week sometimes 2. But will only do it a few days at most for the standard sized chicks.

Popcorn is very fitting!