Please help it's the first day my chicks have left the brooder and are in the coop, they were fine in the morning and pecking around happily but now that it's dark they won't stop crying! They're fully feathered and 6 weeks old. Is this normal or is there something wrong? Please help me..
Whenever chicks have been under a brooder light all their lives, they're not used to the dark and are scared of it. This is normal, and they will just need to get used to the dark; it could take a few weeks. Make sure they don't all pile on each other in a corner and suffocate.
Thank you so much for replying, you saved me a lot of worrying! And I'll make sure to watch out for that. Thank you.
It's not that chicks are afraid of the dark. They just need to be able to see where they are, especially during the period immediately following being deposited in a new living situation. They simply do not have enough familiarity with their coop yet to be comfortable. Let them have a few days inside their coop with food and water in order to get comfortable and learn all the nooks and crannies. It also helps to have a night light or small flashlight at night, especially until after they learn to go out of the coop on their own and return to it to sleep at night.
