6 week old chicks sleeping a lot

[4xhennifer]

Hi all. First time chicken mama here and up until now it’s been fairly smooth sailing. My girls are six weeks old today and for the last four or five days they have been sleeping quite a lot in their brooder. We haven’t been able to go outside because it’s been very cloudy, cold, and rainy and I’m wondering if it’s just the fact that it’s cloudy that makes them so tired, but they seem to be sleeping an awful lot more than they have in the past. They sleep perfectly fine through the night, but often times during the day I find them huddled up together and sleeping. They still seem to be eating and drinking -albeit not as much as the first few weeks where they were constantly eating lol. Anything to be concerned about? They are vaccinated for coccidiosis and mareks. Thank you.

 

[DobieLover]

Can you please post pictures of them?
At their age they should be perfectly comfortable being left out in their poop and run permanently. They should be fully feathered. As long as they have draft free roosting they'll be fine.
The thing about a coccidiosis vaccination is that it's only applicable to specific strains. The strains that you may have in your soil that your chicks have been exposed to could be entirely different which means they're still susceptible to getting coccidiosis.

 

[4xhennifer]

That's really good to know. I didn't realize there were multiple strains. Funny enough.. as soon as I posted this they have been back to their active, chirpy selves. We just set up the coop this weekend and laid sand down in the run, which is still sopping wet. I am waiting for the sun to come out later today to dry some of it up. Here is a pic of them I just took in their brooder preening. Is it Ok to put them out in the run if it is wet? I am not ready to put them out in the coop yet as I want to be sure that they are ready for the temps. It still gets down to the low 50s by me here. Thank you!!!

 

[mcdze]

theres just 3 of them? my guess is theyve just been pampered, never had to compete for food or deal with the real world .. id be sleepy and comfortable to lol .. chickens are pretty hardy though, theyll be fine outdoors at their age ..

 

[4xhennifer]

There are 4 and yes.. they have definitely been pampered LOL. I put them outside in their temp run and they are just fine. I have a murder of crows that look after them as we have a lot of hawks that they deter when I am outside or they are (bless them!) And they are happily chirping away in the grass eating all the weeds. I think it is time to cut the cord once the sand dries. Thank you!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

They're more than ready to go out. Although I'd put them in the coop instead of the run, one, to help home them to it and two, to let the run dry out a bit.

You mentioned using sand as your litter? Is that the long term plan for litter and if so, is this current rain unusual or do you normally get a good amount of rain? Sand is not an ideal medium in wetter climates.

 

[4xhennifer]

They're more than ready to go out. Although I'd put them in the coop instead of the run, one, to help home them to it and two, to let the run dry out a bit.

You mentioned using sand as your litter? Is that the long term plan for litter and if so, is this current rain unusual or do you normally get a good amount of rain? Sand is not an ideal medium in wetter climates.

The sand was just laid, and it comes washed, so it was sopping wet when we got it and right now I don’t have a cover on the run as I was hoping the sun would be out the last couple of days to help dry it out. But it’s been very cloudy here. I’m in Southern California and normally we are super dry, but we have definitely had record rains the last two years. This will likely change come July so for now I’m just waiting on the sun to come out so I can turn it over and dry it up and as a last resort, I just bought a flamethrower lol. The run will be completely covered once the sand is dry and hopefully will stay mostly dry. If it rains, I will likely tarp it so the sides are completely covered.

 

[BDutch]

Whats the temp?
As long as its not raining the chicks probably will be perfectly fine in a coop/run with the 4 of them, in your climate in mai.

Do you have pics of the coop and run? Wet sand shouldn’t be a problem if there is a warm coop/nest they can go to.
Can you make a cover against the rain to prevent them from getting soaking wet. Because they have been pampered they might need some protection.
Sand in a run is perfectly fine as long as you don’t have stagnating water. A run thats covered with hwc or strong netting against predators in combination with enough hiding places or a large coop is okay.

 

[4xhennifer]

Whats the temp?
As long as its not raining the chicks probably will be perfectly fine in a coop/run with the 4 of them, in your climate in mai.

Do you have pics of the coop and run? Wet sand shouldn’t be a problem if there is a warm coop/nest they can go to.
Can you make a cover against the rain to prevent them from getting soaking wet. Because they have been pampered they might need some protection.
Sand in a run is perfectly fine as long as you don’t have stagnating water. A run thats covered with hwc or strong netting against predators in combination with enough hiding places or a large coop is okay.

The coop and run are all completely predator proof.. the problem is that the sand is just far too sopping wet and I’m worried about bacteria and mold growth so I do need to absolutely get it dried up. It’s sitting on concrete so there’s no way to drain it so it has to either be dried from the sun or this lovely flamethrower that I just bought lol. The coop will eventually have a roof on it, but we did not apply the roof for exactly this reason because we knew that the washed construction sand was going to be sopping wet and we wanted to make sure it would dry but as soon as it is all dried up, we will be putting a permanent roof on it so the entire structure will be covered. Additionally, I will have tarps that I can use to close up the sides when it does rain. I’m going to be taking the flamethrower to it tomorrow and turning it over And hoping that at least dries it enough so that the girls can go into it. The temps during the day range from 65 to about 68° right now because there’s no sun. they’ve been outside the last two days in their temporary run, but they are quickly running out of room there as well and it is certainly not predator proof. I am hoping at least within the next few days once the sand gets dried up, out the door they will go.

 

[BDutch]

A concrete floor with a roof is not what I have. I can't give any advice on this.
for 2 reasons.

I have a more natural run : ->
The chickens have something scratch for.
The sand is alive/ not natural and hardly needs cleaning.

My run is netted (cat net) and I only clean the run, in very dry periods, when the chickens can't free range. My chickens poop goes in the soil and is eaten by all kind of lifeforms in the soil and insects. I add leaves and chopped branches every autumn to keep the soil healthy. If the chickens free range much, greens are growing in the run.