TopazMaster91
Songster
Hello, long-time lurker- Nice to finally be joined up here!
27 years old, have three 7 months old pullets, and some newer additions:
I just signed up specifically to ask this question, we have five chicks
(OEGB, Japanese bantam(male), 2x Cochin frizzle bantams, one Polish standard)
all currently housed together in a large dog cage in the living room while we are building a new coop and run, this is the best we can do at the moment.
(optimally we would've had them outside already as they are around 7 weeks old, but between my mother impulse-buying five chicks at random and us needing to build new housing for them, they've been stuck inside longer than I would've liked them to be)
I've researched extensively on how to properly take care of them and keep
them as comfortable as possible until we get them outside and integrated,
they always have food and water access, very occasional treats, and we let them roam the living room once a day for awhile, we keep the cage clean.
We recently turned off the heat lamp, they're old enough now, but I think the
darkness of the living room at night and/or the absence of the heat from the lamp is making them uncomfortable, for the past five days or so once we turn all the lights off, even if they are tired already(!), they begin a LOUD chorus of peeping for anywhere between 5-15 minutes. It's honestly not too annoying, and they're obviously not in danger or in need of anything specific, and they're completely fine during the day, happily doing chick things, but the tiny male Japanese bantam in particular is EXTREMELY loud. I mean, he's always the loudest and noisiest no matter the time of day, but when we go lights out,
he seriously ups the volume until I guess they all decide to go to sleep.
If I'm doing anything wrong or could do better, or if this is normal behavior while they get used to real darkness at night with no heat lamp, I'd really like to know;
don't hold back, please let me know if all's well or if I can do anything better!
Thanks,
- David
.
27 years old, have three 7 months old pullets, and some newer additions:
I just signed up specifically to ask this question, we have five chicks
(OEGB, Japanese bantam(male), 2x Cochin frizzle bantams, one Polish standard)
all currently housed together in a large dog cage in the living room while we are building a new coop and run, this is the best we can do at the moment.
(optimally we would've had them outside already as they are around 7 weeks old, but between my mother impulse-buying five chicks at random and us needing to build new housing for them, they've been stuck inside longer than I would've liked them to be)
I've researched extensively on how to properly take care of them and keep
them as comfortable as possible until we get them outside and integrated,
they always have food and water access, very occasional treats, and we let them roam the living room once a day for awhile, we keep the cage clean.
We recently turned off the heat lamp, they're old enough now, but I think the
darkness of the living room at night and/or the absence of the heat from the lamp is making them uncomfortable, for the past five days or so once we turn all the lights off, even if they are tired already(!), they begin a LOUD chorus of peeping for anywhere between 5-15 minutes. It's honestly not too annoying, and they're obviously not in danger or in need of anything specific, and they're completely fine during the day, happily doing chick things, but the tiny male Japanese bantam in particular is EXTREMELY loud. I mean, he's always the loudest and noisiest no matter the time of day, but when we go lights out,
he seriously ups the volume until I guess they all decide to go to sleep.
If I'm doing anything wrong or could do better, or if this is normal behavior while they get used to real darkness at night with no heat lamp, I'd really like to know;
don't hold back, please let me know if all's well or if I can do anything better!
Thanks,
- David
.
.
