LM> I am new to this conference.... i just wanted to ask if anyone else
LM> thought of the following idea..  Its now chick season.  I have some
LM> baby ckicks  that i am
LM> keeping in  my back porch where it is warm, and have a light bulb
LM> hanging from the top of the cage... they were very noisy the first
LM> night i had them.. it seemed that whenever i picked the noisy ones up,
LM> they would imediatedly fall asleep in my hand.. i figured maybe they
LM> missed their mother...  I put a wind-up clock in their cage and they
LM> imediately quieted down and went to sleep.. Could the ticking of the
LM> clock remind them of their mother's heartbeat?  I read somewhere that
LM> this is true... anyway, it worked for ME and i finally got some rest...
    Just got some new chicks myself, 25 of them - Buff Orpingons and 
Partridge Rocks. (Well, 27 if you count the bonus chicks the hatchery threw 
in.)  
    My brooder has a thermostat on the heat lamp so it shuts off from time to 
time, although not for very long  because the brooder neither stays hot that 
long without a heat source and because it's not good to leave chicks totally 
without light for too long.  This has the effect of quieting them down for a 
bit.  That and the fact that the brooder is out in the barn means we arent 
much bothered by night time peeping. 
    That the chicks quiet down when you hold them is more a sign that your 
cnicks aren't warm enough.  The warmth of your hand is enough to settle them. 
 
Chicks tire quickly and easily and all the running around wears them out.  A 
source of warmth, such as your hand is just enough to let the tired take 
over.  Try moving your heat source (the lamp) closer to the floor of your 
enclousure to generate more heat.  Also move it to one end of your enclosure 
so that the chicks can be directly under it when they're cold but move away 
from it when they get too warm.
    The clock theory reminding them of theif mother's heartbeat is a good one 
except for one thing.  Chicks hatch from egss seperate from their mothers 
body.  There is a slim chance that they would be able to detect the hen's 
heartbeat through the shell when she's sitting on the nest, but since your 
chicks likely came from a hatchey (as do most chicks now-a-days) it's highly 
likely your chicks were incubator bred and have not yet ever seen an adult 
chicken. 
    Truth is, the noise of the clock ticking provides just enough distraction 
for them to keep quiet.  It's a good ploy to quiet them down, but a chick 
that's warm enough and content enough will be naturally quieter.  If the heat 
source you're using is a white light and that's keeping them awake all night, 
you may try going to a red light source (infra-red) and then using a much 
smaller light source (15w or so) as a night light to prevent piling and 
picking.
    Good luck with your chicks.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy 
mine 
- each and every time I get them!
        Byrd Mann
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