Are chicks nocturnal?

[plantguy90]

For some reason my chicks are much more active all night long then during the daytime. They were like this when they were in the house, but they actually went outside at 3 weeks and they still do the same thing in their little brooder box. They now sleep with my 3 layers, who go to bed when dark, except the light for the chicks now keeps them company so even my older girls now wake up when I visit to check things out even in the middle of the night.

But back to the chicks, how come they are so active at night?

 

[fastpat]

My chicks are active, off and on, all night long. I think it's the fact that the brooder light is on 24 hours a day that encourages that, even though it's a red bulb. I do turn out the regular ceiling lights at about 9PM, so they get quieter, but there's always a couple stirring around.

 

[cuckoo_orpington13]

They keep me up with their peeping at night. I can't sleep because my guests are more of night owls than chickens.

 

[slickchik]

No, they are not nocturnal. My chicks play 24-7 because of the light in the brooder. Once I unplug the light they all sleep all night long... Glad it is fairly warm where I live. I unplugged the light last week on my 3-week old chicks because they were SO LOUD all night.

 

[fiberart57]

Mine partied all night long even though they had a red light and large windows to see that it really was nighttime. However, during the day they'd sometimes just stop dead from running around peeping and sleep so I never felt that they were sleep deprived. As they got older, they settled down into regular working hours.

Mary

 

[Mammal_Mommy]

So...how any hours of "other" light are your chicks getting? We keep our heat lamp on all the time and turn it up at night becuase it gets quite cold, but I've found differing or no info about how much light my 3 week old, layers should be getting.

 

[Manda0227]

I have my brooder light on all the time, but when we're home we have on the over head lights too. I noticed if they're tired, they will sleep with those lights on regardless. If we are up late, and the lights are still on, most of the time the chicks are awake and active, and wanna see what we're doing. When we turn off the overhead lights, and go to bed- even though the red brooder lamp is still on, they usually go right to sleep, or quiet down. I haven't heard a peep loud enough to keep me from sleeping yet! And Im a very light sleeper.

 

[slickchik]

They are 4 weeks now and I leave them outside all day from about 7am to 7pm. It is about 70 in the house all night so they don't need heat anymore... and it is nice to have peace and quiet at night while trying to sleep...