This is my first experience with a broody hen. We let her sit on eggs and she had what seemed to be a healthy chick. Me and my husband debated bringing the chick inside, but decided to leave it out with mom. About 3 days after the chick hatched I went outside the chick was outside the coop chirping all alone and mom was inside sitting on her eggs. I decided mom wasn't going to take good care of the chick so I brought him inside. I have raised at least 1 - 2 week old chicks before along with quails and quinneas. So this is not my first time with baby birds. I put him in a box with a heat lamp, chick crumbles and water. He seemed fine, then the next morning I woke up and he was dead. I have no idea what happened, can someone please shed some light on this??? My hen may hatch other chicks, since we are past the 21 day mark and I do not want them to die to. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
While there is no way of knowing for sure, I believe there is a chance the hen caused some internal injury to the chick that wasn't obvious. I base that on the fact the chick was separated and the hen was back to brooding. A single chick can also quickly lose their will to live when without flock mates, especially after periods of high stress which this chick endured. Stress kills chickens. I have seen baby wild rabbits die very quickly due to stress.
I have lost single chicks for reasons unknown, is this a first time broody? Sometimes the first batches don't work out as well as we would like. Some birds are super mom's and others need a little experience. The broody hen made the choice to cover the eggs, and knew the firstborn would be left to its own devices. I suppose an example of tough love in the extreme. I believe that a mama hen knows things about her brood that we do not, and was practicing survival of the fittest. We can only guess… Sorry for the loss, RJ
Hi, I agree with RJ. Some hens just don't get it. I had a hen this Fall who was sitting 8 eggs. One hatched and she abandoned the nest to follow the chick. The chick was with her for a day and that night the hen was in the coop and all feathered out like she was warming the chick. Not wanting to disturb the chick, I closed the coop for the night. (After I had thrown out the 7 eggs at about day 20 which she has abandoned and they had died, sigh ). Next morning I open the coop and guess what? No chick under the hen. She had left it to go to roost at night in the coop. I knew by now the chick was long dead from cold, what frustration! Lesson learned. No all hens are good mothers, sigh. Next time you bring a chick in to brood, give it some Bovidr Labs Poultry Nutri-Drench to deal with the stress. The fact it was cheeping loudly signals that stress. I have used their Nutri-Drenches and Nutri-Drops on my poultry and collies for over a decade. Wonderful stuff! See when you brought that chick in, it was quite stressed. That stress kept the G. I. tract from functioning properly. So the chick could not efficiently uptake the helps you were offering. The gap between body system needs for nutrients and available nutrients widened until it reached a tipping point and the chick's body systems started to cascade in failure and the chick died. So what we have to do is interdict that timeline of unavailable nutritional with help from an emergency nutritional supplement which will reach the body systems effectively and nourish them plus jumpstart the immune system. The Bovidr Labs products do not need to be digested. They're the only helps which don't need digesting. They mainline directly into the bloodstream, measurable in 30 minutes with 99% utilization. All natural. Created by a cattle farmer under 2 US patents to help save baby and stressed animals. http://www.nutridrench.com Here are the poultry instructions.: Give each baby chick one drop only by mouth. Repeat as needed every 8-10 hours until perky. Then put 2-3 ml per gallon in their water for the first 2 weeks to get them off to a strong start. My solution looks like very weak tea. Last season I raised 42 Light Sussex chicks on the Goat Formula ( for the 1st 2 weeks) using the chickens dosage and usage instructions. No deaths or sickness. Just 42 robust chicks. I spoke with the folk at Bovidr Labs and they told me , tho the formulas are species-specific, they also meet the standard for a universal formula. So , in a pinch, I could use one of the other formulas for my birds. I like to use a formula closest to the size of the creature I am help, ( personal opinion), so I chose the Goat formula for the chicks. Always use the usage and dosage instructions for the creature you are helping, regardless of what formula you choose. Best Success, Karen
