When will the chicks start taking food and water?

[Lduvet]

Hi everyone, I have three lavender orpingtons which hatched yesterday (one had to be assisted). They are under a Brinsea ecoglow brooder plate but they aren't coming out from under it at all. When they were first put into the brooder they did have a small amount of chick crumbs but weren't interested in drinking. I appreciate they may still have yolk reserves, so will they venture out when they become a bit hungrier? The room is not particularly cold, about 15C (UK)
One of the orpington chicks also seems to want to peck the toes of the other two, never had this before - any ideas? A quick google has suggested it is a stress or curiosity response, but the chicks have been kept in quite a calm environment and I can't think of any major sources of stress? It is not the one that was assisted that is doing it.

 

[Cecisflock]

It takes them about 2 days to start to eat.

 

[NatJ]

One of the orpington chicks also seems to want to peck the toes of the other two, never had this before - any ideas? A quick google has suggested it is a stress or curiosity response, but the chicks have been kept in quite a calm environment and I can't think of any major sources of stress? It is not the one that was assisted that is doing it.

No matter what you do, the first few days will be stressful because the chicks are not in their eggs any more, and everything is new and strange.

But I think the toe pecking sounds completely normal. Pecking is how chicks learn about things. So they peck everything once to see what it is, a few more times to see if anything changed, and more times if it was interesting.