CHICK WON'T STOP CHIRPING!

[CozyDia]

Please help y'all, I'm gonna tear my hair out. I have this one chick who WOULD NOT STOP CHIRPING IN DISTRESS. From sunrise to sundown it would NOT STOP. The most annoying thing is there's no reason for it to be distressed. It has proper heating, fellow chicks to play and snuggle with, food/water. I have not handled it if at all since it hatched, so its certainly not looking for me.

It's also so unusually rowdy jumping all over the place making that high-pitched chirping call. I keep them in a room directly across from my bedroom and I have been unable to sleep for 2 days because of this! I can't move them anywhere else in my small home. I raised a good amount of chicks and this is the first time where a chick would chirp non-stop indiscriminately. Could it be some kinda of neurological disorder? I'm this close to just culling that one chick. The others are fine. It's literally just one in the batch of 6.

 

[nuthatched]

Can it poop?

 

[CozyDia]

Can it poop?

Yes, it can poop fine. Had to clean poop off its butt the other day actually.

 

[GodLovesU]

Maybe it needs some stimulation.

 

[TOMTE]

Pictures of your setup? Temperature under the heat? Do you use a heat lamp? Might just be a rowdy chick, or it might actually have something to complain about.

 

[CozyDia]

It's in a mesh playpen like this. I have both a heater plate and a heat lamp on. The heater plate is at an angle with one low and one high end. The heat lamp is on the other side where their food/water bowls are. There are spots away from both where they can be cool if they need to. I always use both heating methods during the first week to ensure proper heating so chicks can get familiar with their brooder. All the other chicks are comfortable. It's just that ONE chick.

 

[TOMTE]

It's in a mesh playpen like this. I have both a heater plate and a heat lamp on. The heater plate is at an angle with one low and one high end. The heat lamp is on the other side where their food/water bowls are. There are spots away from both where they can be cool if they need to. I always use both heating methods during the first week to ensure proper heating so chicks can get familiar with their brooder. All the other chicks are comfortable. It's just that ONE chick.

Have you checked the temp under the heat lamp? Try moving the food and water more toward the middle, or the cool side?

 

[CozyDia]

Have you checked the temp under the heat lamp? Try moving the food and water more toward the middle, or the cool side?

I don't have a thermo, but it feels warm on my hand when its near the ground.

Other than the food tray, I laid some piles of food on the ground near their heater plate if their not comfortable leaving it and some other spots. The water bowl is half within the heat lamp range and half out of its range.

I would understand if the other chicks started making distress calls but its only one of them being a lunatic. Its confusing :/

 

[TOMTE]

I don't have a thermo, but it feels warm on my hand when its near the ground.

Other than the food tray, I laid some piles of food on the ground near their heater plate if their not comfortable leaving it and some other spots. The water bowl is half within the heat lamp range and half out of its range.

I would understand if the other chicks started making distress calls but its only one of them being a lunatic. Its confusing :/

I'd get a thermo, just in case it's too hot. I'm not worried about it not being warm enough, since you also have a brooder plate in there.

I don't know if that is the issue but it can prevent a lot of heartache, if the lamp is too hot and your chicks fry.

I also had a really loud chick. We brought Sybil home the day after the other 4, and she distress chirped all the time until she was accepted by the others within a few days. Poor thing would just stand by herself in a corner peeping her head off. I think it's because she's a completely different color and type of chicken. The 2 SLW and BSL get along fine. Sybil is a RSL, the only one, and still the lowest in the pecking order.

Not sure if that helps at all, but if your chick feels left out for any reason that might cause some distress.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Do you have wood chips in pen? sometimes they eat the woodchips and it is bound up in the digestive tract.