Mama Heating Pad Piling or Snuggling?

[LightMadeLiquid]

Just brought home a batch of chicks and put them under the MHP! It is either going really really well, or they're listless and piling. This is my first time with chicks, so instead of whipping myself into a frenzy, I thought I'd reach out to people with far more experience than I.

A little background: They hatched on the 17th, had a heck of a time getting shipped and didn't appear at the post office until the 20th. The shop I got them from is amazing and they held on to the entire shipment and nursed them until they were more or less out of the danger zone.

I'm keeping them indoors in a plastic tote for a couple of days. I got home and put them in the tote with the MHP and they poked around for a second and all went to sleep under the heating pad almost immediately, so I grabbed them one by one and dipped their beaks in the water and a couple of them in the food. Then they all got up and had some water and food and went back under the pad to sleep. They're all huddled under the pad sleeping again. The bottom of the MHP is reading 103 degrees with my thermometer. They are being so quiet right now and are just all hanging out under the heating pad so much that I think they're all just de-stressing together, or they're not getting warm enough.

Anyone have any thoughts? Should I peel myself off the ceiling because it's fine or should I pull out my heat lamp?

I'm attaching some photos for additional reference, I got them as bright and clear as I could, but they're still kind of dark and fuzzy.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Kiki]

I don't use heating pads like this but I can tell you that 103 is too hot for chicks.

You have a regular light bulb that you can put in a clippy type lamp?

 

[azygous]

103F is actually fine. It translates to about 85F on the floor under the heating pad. Your babies are behaving completely normally for what they're been through and their age. You've done well with the beak dipping, and now they need to sleep and catch up from all the travel stress.

Give them until this evening and if there are any that are still wanting to sack out instead of brief periods of activity and eating and drinking, give those warm sugar water. Poultry Nutri-drench in the drinking water for a couple of days will be a tremendous help to get them through this transition.

 

[RoosterML]

Chicks in distress will usually be chirping very loud. If they areQuiet and sleeping sounds like things are just fine.

 

[LightMadeLiquid]

103F is actually fine. It translates to about 85F on the floor under the heating pad. Your babies are behaving completely normally for what they're been through and their age. You've done well with the beak dipping, and now they need to sleep and catch up from all the travel stress.

Give them until this evening and if there are any that are still wanting to sack out instead of brief periods of activity and eating and drinking, give those warm sugar water. Poultry Nutri-drench in the drinking water for a couple of days will be a tremendous help to get them through this transition.

Thank you! While I've been researching and preparing for the babies to get here it all seemed so obvious what to do: Get them home, let them rest. If they seem sick, help them out. But now that they're home and resting I'm second-guessing everything

 

[LightMadeLiquid]

Chicks in distress will usually be chirping very loud. If they areQuiet and sleeping sounds like things are just fine.

Thank you! You're helping me breath easier!

 

[RoosterML]

Thank you! You're helping me breath easier!

Usually you can tell if a chick forgot its way back to the heating pad. Will usually sit in a corner chirping away.

 

[azygous]

Usually you can tell if a chick forgot its way back to the heating pad. Will usually sit in a corner chirping away.

I've spent lots of time watching this particular behavior. The conclusion I finally came to was the chick that seemingly had lost its way, in fact was well aware of where the other chicks had gone. It was always the same chick engaging in this behavior so I could rule out losing its way since it seems it would have caught on to where the warmth and safety was.

What I saw occurring was a chick that was trying to lure the other chicks back out from under the heating pad because it was lonely but not ready to go under it and sleep.

Even tiny chicks can have an ulterior motive and engage in manipulative behavior.

 

[wyoDreamer]

If they are cold and piling to get warm, the pile is in motion as the outer chicks try to get to the bottom of the pile to warm up. It looks like your chicks are just hanging out and resting.
Quiet chicks are happy chicks.

 

[LightMadeLiquid]

I've spent lots of time watching this particular behavior. The conclusion I finally came to was the chick that seemingly had lost its way, in fact was well aware of where the other chicks had gone. It was always the same chick engaging in this behavior so I could rule out losing its way since it seems it would have caught on to where the warmth and safety was.

What I saw occurring was a chick that was trying to lure the other chicks back out from under the heating pad because it was lonely but not ready to go under it and sleep.

Even tiny chicks can have an ulterior motive and engage in manipulative behavior.

I have one particular chick that has started doing this and it made me think of your comment! She'll break off from the group and stand up really tall and cheep away loudly until a friend comes to hang out with her