Here are my words of wisdom for new owners of baby chicks:
There will come a day when you actually leave the room to do something other than watch them, perhaps to shower and dress or to make an actual meal to eat (instead of just grabbing snacks for Chick Watching). When you return and discover some or ALL of the chicks laid out in the brooder... Do NOT panic! They are NOT dead - they are asleep. Before you have a heart attack, tap the side of the brooder. Those "dead" chicks will wake up. Trust me. Chicks can and will fall asleep in mid-movement, in the stupidest positions. They fall sleep whilst eating and drinking, which is one reason folks often put marbles in waterer trays, so their little heads won't get deep enough into the tray to drown.
When you find a chick laying on its side, kicking and twitching, flapping wings, it is NOT having a seizure! It is actually "dust bathing" in the bedding. Again, no heart attack necessary.
Your chicks are not epileptic.
You WILL discover a lump in a chick's neck when you handle it/them. Do NOT rush to the "Emergencies" section of BYC. This is NOT a horrible tumor. It is merely a full crop on a piggie chick and will be miraculously gone the next morning (after the feed has been processed and moved on...)
Make sure there is a cooler section in the brooder for chicks to get away from heat, especially if you are using a heat lamp. I recommend the EcoGlow brooder by Brinsea, because it is much more like a Mama Hen. Chicks run under it to warm up, there is no artificial light on 24 hours a day so they get the benefit of day/bright and night/dark hours, and they run out from under it to play and exercise. Very natural, and no fire hazard from hot brooder lamps. Very low wattage/energy usage, too! Chicks raised with EcoGlow brooding are hardier, IMHO, and adapt more easily when they go outside into the coop when they are fully feathered.
Happy chicks can make a purring sound when nestled in your hand falling asleep. You are not imaging it. We call this "trilling."
And now something less heart-warming: chicks occasionally die for no particular reason. This is called "failure to thrive." You will feel awful, but you most likely did not do anything wrong at all. It just happens. (it happens to chick raised by Mama hens, too.) Not your fault.
Oh, and you WILL fall in love with your chicks. This is inevitable.
There will come a day when you actually leave the room to do something other than watch them, perhaps to shower and dress or to make an actual meal to eat (instead of just grabbing snacks for Chick Watching). When you return and discover some or ALL of the chicks laid out in the brooder... Do NOT panic! They are NOT dead - they are asleep. Before you have a heart attack, tap the side of the brooder. Those "dead" chicks will wake up. Trust me. Chicks can and will fall asleep in mid-movement, in the stupidest positions. They fall sleep whilst eating and drinking, which is one reason folks often put marbles in waterer trays, so their little heads won't get deep enough into the tray to drown.
When you find a chick laying on its side, kicking and twitching, flapping wings, it is NOT having a seizure! It is actually "dust bathing" in the bedding. Again, no heart attack necessary.
Your chicks are not epileptic.You WILL discover a lump in a chick's neck when you handle it/them. Do NOT rush to the "Emergencies" section of BYC. This is NOT a horrible tumor. It is merely a full crop on a piggie chick and will be miraculously gone the next morning (after the feed has been processed and moved on...)
Make sure there is a cooler section in the brooder for chicks to get away from heat, especially if you are using a heat lamp. I recommend the EcoGlow brooder by Brinsea, because it is much more like a Mama Hen. Chicks run under it to warm up, there is no artificial light on 24 hours a day so they get the benefit of day/bright and night/dark hours, and they run out from under it to play and exercise. Very natural, and no fire hazard from hot brooder lamps. Very low wattage/energy usage, too! Chicks raised with EcoGlow brooding are hardier, IMHO, and adapt more easily when they go outside into the coop when they are fully feathered.
Happy chicks can make a purring sound when nestled in your hand falling asleep. You are not imaging it. We call this "trilling."
And now something less heart-warming: chicks occasionally die for no particular reason. This is called "failure to thrive." You will feel awful, but you most likely did not do anything wrong at all. It just happens. (it happens to chick raised by Mama hens, too.) Not your fault.
Oh, and you WILL fall in love with your chicks. This is inevitable.
