Hi there, I'm Jes, new here, and new to chickens. A little background before we get to my concerns. Tuesday (1 day old) my family and I became the proud "parents" of four ridiculously cute and fuzzy chicks from MPC. All chicks arrived alive and full of spunk and even seemed to already have a pecking order. They were also extremely easy to identify. (2 easter eggers, 1 silver lace cochin, 1 silver cuckoo marans). Our mail lady even brought them directly to the house, and delivered our mail before starting her normal route so the chicks wouldn't overheat in the back of her truck. (Truly impressed with my local USPS service).
Chicks went straight into the brooder that was set up 48 hours ahead of time and complete with red heat light, fresh food and fresh water (with acv). Each of them took to the food and learned how to use the nipple waterer immediately. (I'm still impressed at how quickly they picked up on the nipple). They took quickly to being held and will fall asleep while being snuggled, and enjoy chasing a laser pointer dot (totally hilarious). One of my easter eggers even cheeps loudly when she wants attention. We all swarm around the brooder watching them all day. (Plus side, we are watching less tv!)
Now onto my concerns: Let me just state that I KNOW that newborn chicks sleep a lot, just like any other baby, but one of our easter eggers sleeps ALL THE TIME. Like a noticeable difference from the others. I have seen her getting up to eat/drink/poo, she walks and carries herself normally, no injuries/no physical deformities, and is breathing normally. She doesn't get picked on any more than the others, but she is the only one who still has her egg tooth (at 4 days old). The brooder is the perfect temperature (they are all over the brooder, go under the lamp when they want to warm up, but eagerly explore every other inch of it - not huddled together & not panting trying to escape the heat). The other 3 have typical cycles of sleep, peck/scratch/explore/play, eat, poo, repeat and are generally quite active. None of them are overly loud (or quiet) and I have been keeping an eye out for "pasty butts", but everyone has been free and clear of poo build up. This one chick just seems to sleep and sleep and sleep some more.
Last night (3 days old) I removed the paper towels from over the pine shavings and introduced a shallow dish of grit for eating/scratching/dust bathing in and today (4 days old) I took them out into the yard (it's in the upper 90's here) where they all had a blast pecking and scratching for little teeny bugs and eating little bites of grass for about 10-15 minutes. (Our cochin was the most excited about the grass, and was digging and rolling around like a cat with catnip. It was incredibly funny). But sleepy head still SLEPT THE ENTIRE TIME! I was able to get her to walk/run from myself to my son once or twice and she did peck at the ground/bugs/plants a few times, but the rest of the time she just laid down and slept through their adventure.
Do I have any reason to be concerned or do I just have a late bloomer/lazy chick?
Chicks went straight into the brooder that was set up 48 hours ahead of time and complete with red heat light, fresh food and fresh water (with acv). Each of them took to the food and learned how to use the nipple waterer immediately. (I'm still impressed at how quickly they picked up on the nipple). They took quickly to being held and will fall asleep while being snuggled, and enjoy chasing a laser pointer dot (totally hilarious). One of my easter eggers even cheeps loudly when she wants attention. We all swarm around the brooder watching them all day. (Plus side, we are watching less tv!)
Now onto my concerns: Let me just state that I KNOW that newborn chicks sleep a lot, just like any other baby, but one of our easter eggers sleeps ALL THE TIME. Like a noticeable difference from the others. I have seen her getting up to eat/drink/poo, she walks and carries herself normally, no injuries/no physical deformities, and is breathing normally. She doesn't get picked on any more than the others, but she is the only one who still has her egg tooth (at 4 days old). The brooder is the perfect temperature (they are all over the brooder, go under the lamp when they want to warm up, but eagerly explore every other inch of it - not huddled together & not panting trying to escape the heat). The other 3 have typical cycles of sleep, peck/scratch/explore/play, eat, poo, repeat and are generally quite active. None of them are overly loud (or quiet) and I have been keeping an eye out for "pasty butts", but everyone has been free and clear of poo build up. This one chick just seems to sleep and sleep and sleep some more.
Last night (3 days old) I removed the paper towels from over the pine shavings and introduced a shallow dish of grit for eating/scratching/dust bathing in and today (4 days old) I took them out into the yard (it's in the upper 90's here) where they all had a blast pecking and scratching for little teeny bugs and eating little bites of grass for about 10-15 minutes. (Our cochin was the most excited about the grass, and was digging and rolling around like a cat with catnip. It was incredibly funny). But sleepy head still SLEPT THE ENTIRE TIME! I was able to get her to walk/run from myself to my son once or twice and she did peck at the ground/bugs/plants a few times, but the rest of the time she just laid down and slept through their adventure.
Do I have any reason to be concerned or do I just have a late bloomer/lazy chick?
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