I woke up at 3am with a raging migraine only to hear my 7-year-old and my husband out in the living room stumbling about in search of a flash light. I got up and walked carefully out to where I had stashed two emergency flash lights and flipped mine on. The other I handed to my daughter. I went straight for the Bayer aspirin and a bottle of water. I thought about going out to check on the chickens, but there wasn't much I could do for them at that point. The wind was howling and branches were cracking off of our 80ft tall trees thanks to the coating of ice they'd received a few hours earlier. I crawled back into bed and decided to just let the medicine take effect. My 7-year-old joined me for the duration of the night.
When the sun came up, I decided it was time to go check on our fluffy friends. I found a bunch of them crammed into one corner. I am guessing they got freaked out due to the lights and heat lamps turning off. I changed their water and refilled their feeders, at which point they all came out of hiding to eat. When I looked back in the corner, this poor little guy was crushed up against the wall.
I think there are three possibilities as to why he died. 1: He was suffocated under the pile of chickens. 2: He was trampled to death. 3: His neck was broken - at least it looked like it could have been.
Both the hubby and I feel bad about this guy. We hadn't quite determined if it was a hen or a rooster, but after seeing pictures I took a few days ago of his comb (the second picture posted), we were really thinking rooster. He was 7 weeks old in the pic and had just made it to the beginning of week 8. He was one of the first babies we hatched, and was one of the friendliest roosters we had. Whenever we'd go out there into the coop, he would hop up onto a little box next to me and just sit and watch me. He had no reservations about sitting very close to us. In fact, the other day he had started to sit on my husband's lap.
Rest in peace, little boy! He was turning out to be so pretty too. Such a shame.
When the sun came up, I decided it was time to go check on our fluffy friends. I found a bunch of them crammed into one corner. I am guessing they got freaked out due to the lights and heat lamps turning off. I changed their water and refilled their feeders, at which point they all came out of hiding to eat. When I looked back in the corner, this poor little guy was crushed up against the wall.
I think there are three possibilities as to why he died. 1: He was suffocated under the pile of chickens. 2: He was trampled to death. 3: His neck was broken - at least it looked like it could have been.
Both the hubby and I feel bad about this guy. We hadn't quite determined if it was a hen or a rooster, but after seeing pictures I took a few days ago of his comb (the second picture posted), we were really thinking rooster. He was 7 weeks old in the pic and had just made it to the beginning of week 8. He was one of the first babies we hatched, and was one of the friendliest roosters we had. Whenever we'd go out there into the coop, he would hop up onto a little box next to me and just sit and watch me. He had no reservations about sitting very close to us. In fact, the other day he had started to sit on my husband's lap.
Rest in peace, little boy! He was turning out to be so pretty too. Such a shame.
