I hope everyone listens to young chicks when out among them. The peeping business is not just because they are being chicks. Get to know them well enough to know when they are contented. Then always keep your ears open for increases in the intensity and frequency of peeping. Sometimes it because they are scared. Otherwise he can be an indication of discomfort caused by hunger, thirst, or cold. Another thing it can indicate is sickness. I am currently monitoring a brood (n = 8) that is just over one week old being hen reared. We just had a spat of rains on areas with abundant feces produced by older birds where chicks forage. I have reason to suspect they picked high loads of cocci making a coccidiodosis very likely in the coming days. The greatly increased peeping is one of the first signs I look for, even before changes in feces which are hard to detect in a free-range setting anyway. Chicks also have increased interest in drinking and staying under mothers skirt for warmth. If I fail to act quickly then some of the chicks will begin to stumble as walking about dropping a wing to get back up. Weight will also drop quickly and wings will be held down in a droopy fashion. Reacting then usually is followed by heavy losses. Remember the peeping starts first. I will be stepping in quickly with application of a coccidiostat to suppress outbreak.
The peeping can be problematic in other ways. It makes for a very good fox call. Generally speaking, quite chickens are healthy and happy unless too weak to make noise.
The peeping can be problematic in other ways. It makes for a very good fox call. Generally speaking, quite chickens are healthy and happy unless too weak to make noise.
