Strange Behavior with my chicks!

[Nut Lemon]

Hi, I'm very new to chickens, so I have a question about the behavior of one of my chicks. Louise is a White-Crested Black Polish chick she is a female too. She is only about 3-5 days old. Nugget is a "purple" silkie. It was an accident, and one of it's parents is blue and one is red. We do not know the sex of it. We think that Nugget is about 2 weeks old. But both of these chicks do the same thing. They open their mouths for about 1 second, then close it. Why do they do this??? I live in Maine, but it has been pretty hot here. It has been 90+ degrees. If any of that info helps or if you need more info, i'll be checking this. But the ultimate question is Why do they open their mouths??? Is it because of the heat???

Thanks,
Nut Lemon

 

[Nut Lemon]

oh, and they open their mouths at random times when they are standing still.

 

[Oven Ready]

Like a yawn? I have no idea what it is but ours all do it as well. Maybe it is a yawn.
It's almost like they are bored and they think "What will I do now? Yeah, I know, I'll open my mouth that'll be so cool"

More serious though...
There is a parasite called a GapeWorm that can make them gape but they should also show signs like shaking their head, making noises when breathing and gasping rather than 'yawning'. 3-5 days old would be too young in my opinion and I don't think it's a very common worm anyway. Medication called Flubenvet used to be the solution to this but I'm not sure it's available in the US anymore - perhaps someone from the US will confirm or correct me.

 

[Nut Lemon]

ok thank you. we just figured that it was a yawn too. i do not think that it is gape worm because they don't make any strange noises. Thanks!

 

[Cat Water]

Yeah, it's just like a yawn. They have no problems eating or drinking and they are not shaking their heads, and they are breathing fine. I bet they are yawning because right after they do it, they tend to fall asleep. They just open thier mouths, close their eyes, stick their tounges out, and fall asleep no more tham five minutes later.
They're my chickens, by the way.

 

[gryeyes]

Yes, chicks and chickens yawn.

They also do that to adjust the food in their crops.

Another thing to notice and NOT panic over is Oh My God My Chick Has A Neck Tumor! No, actually, its crop is full. If that lump in the neck is gone the next morning, that's what it was - a piggy chick eating too much and then digesting it over night.

Lessee, what else.... OMG A Seizure!!!: flopping about in the pine shavings, laying on its side and kicking and/or flapping wings sort of sideways and weakly. That's taking a dust bath.

One last thing: before you panic at the sight of one or more "dead" chicks, touch 'em. They'll probably wake right up and look at you like "Whut?" They fall asleep in ANY position, and ANYwhere, just like that. Awake, then BAM! asleep.

Those are all the things that scared the heck outa me when I got my first chicks.

 

[Nut Lemon]

thank you gryeyes. and Cat Water the chicks love me too!!!!!

(we are sisters)

 

[Cat Water]

Thank you gryeyes. Nut Lemon freaks out whenever she sees somthing a little off with my chickens. One day, my little polish chick Louise fell asleep while taking a dust bath and she thought she had a seizure and died... Just like you said!

I picked her up and she started peeping and flapping like she normally does and she was fine. Better safe than sorry I guess...

And they're MY chickens!

 

[sloallie10]

I love your name: Nut Lemon, i might name one of my chicks that!

 

[Nut Lemon]

oh! that would be awesome!! my sister (Cat Water) wrote it on a McDonald's cup once because she was bored. Her nickname is Cat water because she wrote that too!