How are my week old chicks suppose to act?

[lbpowell]

Today I'm a new chick mom to 10 1-week old PBR's! Yeah!!!!!! I'm so excited, but I'm not really sure what I'm doing. They seem to to be healthy and I've seen them eating 2 or 3 times today, but they seem to sleep alot. Is this normal? Just making sure I'm not doing something wrong. I've got the heat lamp at about 93 degrees and the are spread out in the corner beside the heated corner. Any help would be greatly appreciated.:

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Hi and

Chicks do sleep alot. As long as they are eating, drinking, peeping and pooping as well, they are probably fine.

 

[lbpowell]

Thanks for the advice. I feel much better now. I just thought they would be much more active. I hear a few of them peeping every 15 min. or so and each time I look in the box they seem to have moved around. Hopefully they'll all be happy and well rested in the morning.

 

[txhomegrown]

Chicks eat, sleep and poop. Sounds like you are doing fine. They are not huddling together or staying as far from the lamp as they can, so that tells me you have it set up right. Make sure they have food and fresh water and they will seem to grow right before your eyes. And it seems that the older they get, the louder they get. Enjoy the peace and quiet while you can.

 

[SpringChickens]

Are they evenly spread out throughout the box? If they are not going under the heat lamp, the light is probably too high. If they are going everywhere, they're probably great!

If its too hot or too cold, they won't move around much. Good luck!

 

[TeamChaos]

They will sleep a lot. And if they are really warm and comfy, they will stretch out and look nearly dead. I *freaked out* the first time I saw all my little babies sprawled on the floor like that! Now I recognize it as total relaxation. They would also close their eyes and melt- instant nap! Also normal.

 

[lbpowell]

Thanks for all the advice. We made it through the first night and they seem to very happy today.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Yay! When I first got my chicks I was totally obsessed with their behavior

This site was a life saver, for sure.