Why does my chick chirp soooo much?

[jramirez]

She is constantly chirping, could something be wrong?

 

[WI FarmChick]

I am sure you have food...water...heat lamp on depending on how old she is.

Is she the only one?

 

[Fierlin1182]

I also had a chick who constantly chirps, she just had a very vivacious personality. As long as your chick is moving, eating, drinking and acting normally, there shouldn't be much to worry about.
Cheeping can mean cold (if she's the only one that probably isn't it), unhappy (is she getting picked on?) or just wanting a bit of attention from you. Play with her a bit.

 

[jramirez]

Yes I have everything - I was just worried that maybe something was wrong. another question: if i bought my chicks from a local feed store, how can i tell how old they are? maybe i dont have it warm enough in their brooder? idk - i'm a little confused because i read everywhere that i have to have the lamp, but everyone i live around tells me that it isnt necessary and that the chicks will not die if i dont have that........

 

[Fred's Hens]

Newly hatched chicks indeed need a lamp or heating device of some kind, to mimic the mother hen's warm under body.

The entire brooder box does NOT need to be hot. Only a warm spot, under a lamp, where the chicks can go and warm up, if they need to. They'll self adjust. You don't need to worry about being too fussy about it. The move into the hot spot if they need it, and away from if they do not.

Unless your local climate is 90F or 30C degrees, YES, supplemental warmth is required for newly hatched chicks for at least a month to 5 weeks.

 

[chicknfun]

If your chick is very young, you need heat. It does not necessarily have to be a lamp, it could be space heat. I have my chicks in a cage in a small enclosed porch that I heat with a small space heater. i keep it around 80-85 deg in there. My group is about 2 weeks old.
I have noticed that they will have a little bitty weak cheep if they are cold. I found this out the hard way, as I lost 3 of my 5 originally purchased chicks because I was not keeping them warm enough.
Good luck with your little chicky!!

ETA: If you can post a pic of your chick, someone can give you an estimate of its age

 

[WI FarmChick]

Yes I have everything - I was just worried that maybe something was wrong. another question: if i bought my chicks from a local feed store, how can i tell how old they are? maybe i dont have it warm enough in their brooder? idk - i'm a little confused because i read everywhere that i have to have the lamp, but everyone i live around tells me that it isnt necessary and that the chicks will not die if i dont have that........

I would guess that your chick you bought at the time of purchase could have been less than a week old.

 

[jramirez]

thanks everyone for your responses! i will definitely post some pics later today. I have 5 little chicks. 2 americaunas, 3 reds and 1 that i'm not sure of - it's very brown, we call her "chocolate"

 

[pugiosam]

My chick is chirping a lot and constantly. She also seems to do it with her eyes closed. Non of the other chicks are doing this. Is something wrong?

 

[lazy gardener]

If you have a single chick that is chirping a lot, especially with eyes closed, I'd be concerned. In my group of chicks that I started last spring, I had one that was very noisy. Several days later, the chick was comatose, but I was able to bring it back with mega doses of Vitamin E and Nutri-drench. It recovered to the point that I couldn't tell it from the others, but was never right, developed a severe case of scoliosis and had heart failure. You might offer all of your chicks some electrolyte mix which has vitamins. Also might consider Nutri-drench or Polyvisol without Iron. Are they getting medicated feed? The Amprolium can interfere with vitamin absorption. Of course on the other side of the medicated feed debate, you have to keep an eye out for coccidiosis.