Weird Water behavior 2 1/2 week old chicks

[Dylan Lindsey]

I have 4 Golden Buff chicks and they have been doing very well up until recently. All their environmental have been perfect, but the last two days, they seem hell bent on removing their water from the waterer is-self. Ill come in to check on them, and a few of them seem to be wet and their water will be gone (on them and soaked through their pine chips). Temperature is right where it needs to be for how old they are, and their enclosure is big enough that if they were too hot on the side where the heater is they could easily get away to the cooler side of their brooder. They have a proper chick waterer (mason jar style with the bottom dish) so i don't think its a matter of them "falling in" but i don't know. They also love to pile as much bedding in their water/feeder as possible. i don't know if that is normal either. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing before?

 

[debid]

Make a cone from some cardboard and tape it to the top of the waterer like a dunce cap. See if that doesn't solve it.

 

[debid]

BTW, you want to do this with the feeder while you're at it.

 

[debid]

And give them a baby roost so they have something appropriate to hop on and off of.

 

[Dylan Lindsey]

Ill give the dunce cap a try! i just wanted to make sure they weren't unhealthy. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Krazyquilts]

And give them a baby roost so they have something appropriate to hop on and off of.

I have a bunch of metal hanging baskets - the grid kind - that I'm not using so I've been keeping one upside-down in the brooder. The bigger ones love to climb on it and the smaller ones will hang out under it so they don't get run over lol.

 

[Dylan Lindsey]

I have 4 Golden Buff chicks and they have been doing very well up until recently. All their environmental have been perfect, but the last two days, they seem hell bent on removing their water from the waterer is-self. Ill come in to check on them, and a few of them seem to be wet and their water will be gone (on them and soaked through their pine chips). Temperature is right where it needs to be for how old they are, and their enclosure is big enough that if they were too hot on the side where the heater is they could easily get away to the cooler side of their brooder. They have a proper chick waterer (mason jar style with the bottom dish) so i don't think its a matter of them "falling in" but i don't know. They also love to pile as much bedding in their water/feeder as possible. i don't know if that is normal either. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing before?

 

[lazy gardener]

Your chicks are doing what they were created to do: scratching and digging, looking for morsels of food.

1. Raise the water up on some 2 x 4 scraps or a couple of bricks. The top of the trough should be chest height.

2. While your brooder looks big enough to you, if you are using a heat lamp, I'm guessing it's too small. There should be a temp gradient of 20*F between the warm and the cool end. (If they are in the house the cool end should be around 70*F.) All you need to do with the heat lamp is provide them with a small area where they can warm up if they get cold.

By the time chicks are 2 weeks old, I recommend that they have 2 s.f. of open space in the brooder per bird. They will be getting their flight feathers, and will need to exercise those wings.

3. You can give them a healthy outlet for their scratching and digging by giving them a plug of sod from your untreated lawn. Simply lay it upside down in the brooder. They will get: first grit, first greens, minerals, first dust bath, first seeds and insects, perhaps a worm or two, beneficial bacteria and even first exposure to cocci and other pathogens. Don't panic about the last item on their list. They need that exposure during their first 2 weeks of life while their antibody levels received from their mother are at their highest.

They will also spend hours digging through the sod, and playing king of the mountain.

4. It's important to keep your brooder dry (as you know). Wet chicks are prone to illness. By raising the waterer and giving them more room, you should be able to keep them from doing the water baths.

 

[Folly's place]

LG said it all! Mary