New chicks don't seem to be settling down for the night....

[RonC]

Some do use the heat emitters. I considered a small one if the weather got bad this winter but it never happened. There are people in Alaska and Canada that don't heat or insulate their coops.

 

[ButchGood]

Chicks will crash and go crash and go crash and go all day all night. Eat play poop and sleep in 5 minute intervals. Just they way they are.

 

[JenS9]

They've been very good. I think they were just freaked out between the car ride and being in a new home.

 

[Stewarts]

Chicks don't sleep all night long, they go in spats of sleep. I had the 23 I hatched out in a large cardboard brooder my husband made with a red brooder lamp on constantly and it was warm in the house as well. Never had a problem with them settling down. Chicks have extremely good vision/hearing and they notice absolutely everything, since the storage bin is clear could be they are over stimulated by what's beyond their bin home or they are distracted by sounds outside the bin. Never put the lamp out, they will get too cold and sicken. I put a mixture of apple cider vinegar and molasses at 1 tsp per gallon of water for them and I mix some of their starter with warm water and a healthy dose of plain yogurt; it seems to calm them down quite a bit and I've never had a sick chick - pasty butt was also limited using the vinegar and molasses for extra nutrition and the yogurt for bacterium they need. When I did see a pasty butt, I always carefully cleaned it.

On another note, I had a chick hatch prematurely; had not completely absorbed the yoke. Thank goodness it was only a tiny bit of the yolk the chick had to absorb... It was a tiny thing and not very strong. He would not eat with the rest of the chicks, that was the reason I started the starter mash with yogurt and finally got him to eat. Once I got him drinking the water and eating he improved by leaps and bounds!!! But I had to watch him for pasty butt. He's still tiny but he's feisty little fellow and can hold his own and more with the larger birds.

Stephanie