Is it normal for new chicks to be this sleepy?

[bigchiefhoho]

Let me start out by saying that I'm absolutely brand-new to chickens. The extent of my experience is gawking at a friend's 4H bantams once, and that's it. I've wanted some for a long time, though, so yesterday I finally got some at TSC. I've read a bunch of books and all the major websites, so I think I've got them set up pretty well, but none of the things I read mentioned how freaking sleepy the little beasts are. One of them was making a bee-line towards the feeder and suddenly just stopped, tilted downwards, and fell asleep right there for a minute before continuing, and I've seen the rest doing similar things - just stopping in the middle of some other action and falling asleep. Is this normal for this age, or is there something wrong with my chicks?

 

[SteveBaz]

to the site

YES and YES. They are babies. All they do is poop peep eat and sleep.



we need to see em'

 

[aoxa]

I find the warmer they are, the sleepier they get.

And when they pass out like this, you can't help but poke them to ensure they are still breathing. My first time raising chicks as well. Got mine on Sunday! They are so sleepy! I watched one fall asleep while grooming yesterday. It was so cute Oh and they act like little drunk fluff balls

 

[SteveBaz]

 

[mtnviewfarms]

Must be 'normal' - we hatched out our first chicks - eggs from our flock of
BR's - a few weeks ago and I sold them when they were 4 days old. Anyway, it was so funny because, like you said, they would be in the middle of going somewhere or doing something and they would just go to sleep. DH and I
thought it was so cute - there were 20 of them and often I'd look in the container and 7 or 8 of them would be laying on their stomach with head to one side and legs stretched out behind - basking under the heat lamp - they looked like tiny little fluffy sun bathers on a beach somewhere. Just when we
got a little worried that they were not 'ok' they would 'jump up' and run to the waterer for a sip or start scratching around and eating the chick starter we
spread on the floor of the container. Amazing little things! By day 4 they seemed to be sleeping less and more active and 'chicken-like' at which point
the people who purchased them picked them up at the farm.

 

[bigchiefhoho]

Okay, thank you! I was hoping this was just normal new-baby behavior. And yes, I will definitely post pics, once I hit 10 comments. They're nothing exotic, but they are terribly cute. My husband keeps laughing at me for sitting on the bathroom floor with my laptop all day watching them run around my bathtub brooder.

 

[tweetysvoice]

hehe.. Our brooder is downstairs and I think I need to bring it up for the evening so I don't have to keep treading down there every 15 minutes to stare for another 1/2 an hour!
Mine are just 2 days old now and they do the same thing. The are going full blast, then fall face forward alseep. After 2 minutes (or less), they are up and at it again! I haven't had them stretch out like that yet - mine tend to fall asleep standing up untill they wobble over and wake themselves up again. (posting to get to the 10th comment!) lol