Single baby chick

[CashewVulture]

I hatched some eggs, and only 1 chick actually developed and hatched. This chick hatched yesterday at 8:00pm.
It stayed in the incubator the whole night and I took it out this morning. The chick has tried to eat and drink a little bit when I took it out from the heat plate but other than that, it isn’t super active. Mostly just sleeping under the plate. Should I be worried? Or is it just still resting from hatch? It’s been almost 24 hours since it hatched. It can stand and walk and preen but it seems as though it won’t do anything unless I decide to take it out from under the plate and place food in front of it. It will often fall asleep while eating.

I am going to get other chick friends soon but I can’t right this moment.
I am playing chick sounds in the background until then.

 

[fldiver97]

Encourage the chick to eat and drink, peck with your finger at the chick crumbles. Baby chicks will run around for a bit and then just plop, fall asleep. It should show interest in food and be active at least intermittently. Do you have a plush animal to put in the brooder for company until you can get chicks to join her/him?

 

[CashewVulture]

Encourage the chick to eat and drink, peck with your finger at the chick crumbles.

This works, chick pecks and eats and drinks a little.

Baby chicks will run around for a bit and then just plop, fall asleep.

Yeah, it did that all morning in the incubator while I was preparing the brooder. It stopped after I put it under the heat plate.

It should show interest in food and be active at least intermittently.

It’s interested in food/water for short periods of time. Maybe 5 minutes at a time then it wants to sleep again.

Do you have a plush animal to put in the brooder for company until you can get chicks to join her/him?

I do. It’s under the heat plate.

I also want to mention that it doesn’t peep that much. There are no distress peeps. If I tap my fingers it’ll start making happy peeps but doesn’t follow my hand. It also makes calm peeps while eating.

 

[kattabelly]

It’s interested in food/water for short periods of time. Maybe 5 minutes at a time then it wants to sleep again.

This sounds pretty normal for a chick that's less than 48 hours old. They sleep a lot at first, and run through the whole sleep>poo>eat>repeat cycle very quickly. I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, so long as it is eating and drinking and otherwise seems healthy.

It definitely needs a couple of friends as soon as you're able to get some, though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This sounds pretty normal for a chick that's less than 48 hours old. They sleep a lot at first, and run through the whole sleep>poo>eat>repeat cycle very quickly. I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, so long as it is eating and drinking and otherwise seems healthy.

It definitely needs a couple of friends as soon as you're able to get some, though.

This. I've noticed with incubator hatched and broody hatched chicks they tend to spend a lot of time resting and staying warm. Before they hatch they absorb the yolk so they do not need to eat or drink during their first 72 hours or more so don't worry about them being hungry or thirsty. They will often eat or drink a little but they don't have to. After they have recovered from the ordeal of hatching and when they need to start eating and drinking they get much more active.