Baby Chicks Died

A few weeks ago a couple of my hens went broody. I knew it was the end of the season but allowed them to sit on their eggs. My fertility right now is now the best, so one hen ended up with 1 fertile egg, and the other ended up with 2. They all made it to hatch day and unfortunately one of the chicks got stepped on during hatching and died. The other 2 hatched just fine and each hen ended up with 1 chick each, hatched 2 days apart. I was really enjoying these hens care for these babies. They were so cute and sweet and I would spend a ton of time sitting down watching them.

A few days ago, one of the chicks disappeared. At the time the chicks was about 4 days old. I never found the body, and have no idea where it went. The run they are in is secure and there were no holes in the fence line or anywhere that a predator appeared to have entered. I was really worried about the hen because she kept following the other mom and baby around. They even slept in the same nesting box at night for the first two days after the chick disappeared. After that she lost interest and went about her life.

Then this morning I went out to let me chickens out into their yard and did not see the chick. I looked all over and finally found it in the nesting box, semi covered with bedding, dead. There were no apparent injuries, no blood. It did get cold last nigh but the mom was very attentive and was always laying on top of the chick.

Now with both chicks dead I am so very disappointed. I have never allowed my hens to raise chicks before but was really starting to enjoy it. I had thought that it was so much easier than using a brooding box and thought I would do this more often. But now, I am not so sure. With all of the chicks having died, I am not sure that I will want to do this again. Any ideas as to what could have happened and why I failed so miserably?!!

I never used a broody for chicks
But it's possiple that the hen by mistake smotherd the chick by accident
Or the chick might of not been thrifty like when you raise chicks some well always die

That's too bad, not every hatch goes bad like that, the first one was obviously taken by something, one year I had a crow taking chicks, the second one obviously died, hens don't squish them, why it did I don't know, where you feeding them all a starter or grower, did you check it for mites which sometimes get overwhelming with a broody chicken, and can weaken a chick pretty quick.

Don't get discouraged, try again next year, it really is fun to watch chicks raised by their mom's and become a part of the flock. And losing them is a part of the process sometimes, good luck.

Oh gosh I did not even think about the food...now I feel stupid. It was eating what the mom was eating...regular feed, scratch, and scraps...maybe lack of nutrition. Oh I feel bad

Never even occurred to me. And I have chicks in my brooder right now with starter feed.

Didn't say that what it was, just a thought, don't beat yourself up, I have learned things the hard way as well.

I think we all do. I'm just mad at myself cuz I know better. With only the 2 little chicks in there it never hit me. I've never raised chicks w their moms before. Do u usually separate them or feed the whole flock starter feed for a while?

I usually switch them all to a starter or grower, non medicated, with oyster shells on the side. I really enjoy watching mom take care of the kids, I've even had roosters try to help.

I was loving it. And yes 2 of my roosters were awesome with them. I was surprised cuz the one roo is usually nasty. Well I will try again in the spring. Learning experience that I will never forget again. Thanks for the help!