Emergency Chick Relocation

Chickens are not super smart. Yesterday, I noticed that the chicks were trying to dust-bathe in their bedding, which is a custom mix of shredded newsprint, pine shavings and sand. I thought, "oh, they must want more sand" so I poured some in the center of the brooder. They were terrified of it. They freaked out at first, then finally settled down in the corner of the brooder, away from the scary sand pile.  After a few minutes, they summoned up enough courage to hop up on the perch and look at the sand from a safe distance, but they still wouldn't go near it. I was hoping they'd get over their irrational fear soon because they would have to cross the sand if they wanted to drink.

When I went back to check on the chicks they had overcome their fear of sand in piles and had worked it into the rest of the bedding. Then I realized their heater wasn't working. Yikes! Although you can use a high-wattage light bulb to keep chicks warm, I happened to have an infrared ceramic heater and thermostat which I bought when we got our Sulcata tortoise. Frank the Tank was no longer using the heater because he bailed his nice warm doghouse and found his own shelter out in the 'back 40' a couple of years ago. I chose to use the ceramic heater because I could more easily control the temperature, and because I didn't want to have the poor babies subjected to the constant glare of a red light bulb. Well, last night they didn't have a choice. They had to stay warm, so they had to endure the creepy red glow all night long.

They also needed to be moved to the "Big-Girl Brooder" because the heat lamp I have is so intense, I couldn't hang it far away enough to keep them comfortable in the old brooder. Luckily, I had already built the new brooder. I just wasn't expecting to move them for another week or so. We set up their new digs as fast as possible before it got too cold. Even though their new home is much bigger and the light is further away, it may still be too much for them. When I got up today & checked on them, they were all huddled up in the corner, far away from the heat lamp. I bit the bullet and went out to purchase a replacement heater this morning.