New chicks, what's normal behavior?

[joymac]

I got my first chicks yesterday and I'm so excited! But I'm trying to regulate the brooder temperature which I think is ok now, but wondering if the chick's behavior is normal. They move around and eat and then plop down and sleep. Guess I thought they'd be more active during the day and sleep at night. What do you think?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Like babies of all species, they have little sense of time. The eat round the clock, sleep in spurts round the clock. All normal.

 

[anderson8505]

Yup. Make sure they can get into the lighted area AND out of it, and they'll stay cozy. Provide plenty of fresh water and good chick starter food.

Good luck!

 

[SteveBaz]

Hey welcome to the BYC

How exciting!! Pretty normal stuff to just eat peep sleep drink.
How about vitamin drops for the water? Thermometer? extra and different watt bulbs? little dish of sand for dust bath?
Have fun and enjoy!! Its all good stuff and entertaining for sure.

 

[joymac]

Thanks, I feel soooo much better now!

 

[hallerlake]

I love when they fall asleep on their feet.

 

[joymac]

Steve,
No vitamin drops (hadn't heard of them) but do have a thermometer and 60, 100, 200 watt bulbs and a 250 watt infrared heat lamp on hand. It's pretty chilly in the mudroom they're in so through trial and error we've decided the 200 watt bulb is working the best. There are only 10 chicks (4 black ameraucanas, 5 marans - blue, wheaten and black - and one partridge silky) of various sizes although I think the oldest is 2 weeks old. Did I say I'm excited?

Joy

 

[jeepguy982001]

lol mine come around the first and i can't wait. lol ur description reminds me of when my daughter was first born eat,sleep,poop power nap at anytime, anywhere, doing whatever.

 

[SteveBaz]

Quote:
Vita Sol and other bird supplements are water soluble premix of vitamins and electrolytes formulated to be a nutrient supplement applicable for use in poultry. Helps with reducing stress and providing additional vitamins to promote healthy strong egg shells. Vitamin A, Vitamin D and other essential nutrients to promote health in all fowl . Just a thought. I put it in the water with apple cider vinegar.

 

[LizaBlue]

I don't know how you have them contained, but we had ours in giant plastic bins and had a lot of trouble regulating heat. Everything we read said keep the temp. a lot higher than our chicks could stand - turns out that plastic bins get hotter. Happy chicks aren't constantly cheeping, don't huddle all the time, don't pant, and will sometimes splay out all over the floor of their brooder like a fuzzy rug

Clean is the main thing, IMO - clean water, clean food, clean litter, and clean butts - take care of that and temp, and I bet your babies will thrive. "Save-a-Chick" is an electrolyte mix, comes in 3 premeasured packs to add to water, but if the chicks seem healthy, I wouldn't bother. The day you receive chicks, sure, but unless they get stressed later, there feed should take care of them. Listen to their peeps, when they didn't have complaints, mine didn't have much unpleasant to say!