Found a nest of babies

Date sort Score sort
lejuene

lejuene

Hatching
Oct 5, 2015
4
0
7
Found a nest of babies. Eight in all. Collected them to care for them. Three of the eight died last night. What did I do wrong??? They have food, water, and I have the heat lamp. They all seemed vigorous yesterday. I'm guilt ridden. Posting a pic so maybe someone could guess the age.
700
 
Hi :welcome

Glad you could join the flock! Your chick looks to be less than one week old. When you say you found them, were they with a mother hen? Many things could have caused death, too hot, too cold. They could have drowned in the water. What kind of waterer do you have? Have they got room to get away form the heat so they can cool down?

Good luck with your chicks.
 
welcome-byc.gif


Those are pretty young chicks to have been abandoned. I'm guessing just having been left on their own without mama or human intervention is what caused the 3 to expire (they were already too far gone for you to help). I hope you can give the rest of them a good home.
 
Mother was around but nest was not a safe place. The AG class at high school is building me a proper brooder today. I'm wondering if it was too much heat. They didn't drown. Could it be stress from having moved them? Have never dealt with chicks this young. I'm terrified of being responsible for another death.
 
If you could catch the mother, there is a slim chance she would stay & care for them. Broodies get very shaken up when a nest is moved
 
I'm wondering why she didn't nest in the coop? I can catch the mother and try to get her stay with the chicks. I'm just sick to death with worry and mad at myself for moving them. Thought I was doing the right thing.
 
Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

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Don't beat yourself up too bad. Just remember that if their original nest was not in a safe place, it is likely that many more than that would have died without your intervention.

You mentioned that perhaps they had too much heat? Where are the remaining chicks in comparison to the heat lamp? Are they right under it (indicating they are cold), are they as far from it as they can get (indicating they are too hot), or are they evenly dispersed? Are each of them eating and drinking as far as you know?

I have had success moving broodies several times, so it is possible. Just be sure to keep an eye on mama hen if you try to reunite them and get her to care for them.
 

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