newchickychick
Songster
So for first context, we brood in our garage. (Our oldest chicks are a little over 8 weeks old and out in the temp. coop. We're almost finished with our BIG one which we plan to add an 'introductory coop' to beside for easier brooding and flock integration because man, garage brooding is something else.) If the door is EVER open, it's momentarily to clean out the wood shavings that inevitably end up strewn about the floor and to get a quick bit of fresh air in there. We never leave it open and go back inside for reason of worrying something will sneak in to get our chicks.
We go out this morning and our partridge silkie chick is MISSING. And I do mean missing. The shavings really are a pretty thin layer. Even on the off-hand chance it had piled up enough to cover a chick somewhere we hadn't notice, we swept through it ALL. Thoroughly. Three times.
It WAS unwell. It could hardly move from the spot the other chicks are at. I had been giving it egg yolk mixed with a bit of nutridrench since it didn't want to eat solids on its own, warm water through a syringe with electrolytes, and occasionally taking it out to get it extra warmed up with a paper towel wrapped around a rice-filled sock while I fed it.
There is no doggy door, and the window is cracked for ventilation IF it's not too cold out. There is a bug screen on it whenever it's open and it has no holes/cannot wiggle loose. So I can't really imagine that's an issue either. It was pretty chilly last night so the window was closed then too. We've done a sweep of the garage. Nothing hiding anywhere. We checked for holes in the walls, under the windows, even under the garage door. It's so flush to the ground and strong (we couldn't even force it to lift up enough for even a finger to fit under). We don't really have much in our garage as we did a deep clean out after our move and tossed whatever junk we were storing. And we keep our cars outside, so again no opening it frequently.
There was no blood ANYWHERE, not even a single speck, so I can't imagine the other less-than-a-week-olds pecked it to death/ate it. They also have TONS of room, and a 20% chick starter that they go to town on, so I feel like without a huge vitamin deficiency or any 'cramped room' stress, it's unlikely (but not impossible I know) that happened.
So that leaves me with this: Where on EARTH did it GO? We do plan to set up a baby cam tonight. I'm very upset with myself I didn't do this previously, but we even had the inspector AND a pest control specialist CHECK the integrity of the garage when we moved in last fall to be CERTAIN nothing could get in (mice, snakes, etc.) So I never would've fathomed it could be a predator. I feel like I have to be missing something somewhere, because it's just GONE. Not to mention, ALL of the chicks were calm as could be this morning. I would wake up if someone was outside in our driveway and sneezed. I am a LIGHT sleeper. And I do mean light. So again while I am not infallible, I also feel like I might would've woken up if the chicks were panicked because something got into the brooder to get at them? I do not want to lose another chick to a predator if that's what happened, let alone in our GARAGE where they should be safe as can be.
I just need help brainstorming on what I could've potentially missed in search of what happened or if a predator did get to it. I will certainly add pics later of the garage. It isn't a huge garage, and we've checked under every sill, every inch of the wall, to see if there's even the tiniest of holes or anything could wiggle loose and no luck. I just don't want to lose any more babies if it was a predator that got into our garage. We're in there frequently too - I often go check on them at night when I can't sleep (which is frequent) just to be sure they don't need waterers changed, there's no really messy bedding, top up their food, etc. so it's also heavy foot traffic.
The single normal door to the garage was also locked so it's not like someone could've come in to steal a chick (let alone the weakest baby Bantam one). I have a 'thing' about keeping doors locked. I don't go to sleep unless I've checked the entire house is locked down, garage side door included, at least three times. (I know, I know - it's a whole thing.) And it was definitely still locked this morning.
The brooder is also way too tall for any of our Bantam chicks to hop out of. By far. Especially at this age! And it was so very weak yesterday, I can't fathom it got enough strength to hop out and hide in one of our few boxes (which we also checked, to be sure there wasn't a predator hiding in there...). Just so baffled, and so very upset with myself on what could've happened. I had a feeling we'd lose this baby, but certainly not this way. :[
We have seen signs of something digging at our outside coop, but we've got a hardware cloth skirt around it and the paw prints have since stopped from being near there. Whatever it was seems to have given up, but I feel like based on the paw prints and hole size, there's no WAY something of that size could've snuck into the garage without a visible escape route. Feeling like a really bad chickie parent this morning. So any advice is much appreciated. I want to know if I've royally messed up, but please try to be gentle as this is our first chicken journey and we do care deeply about the well-being of our lovelies.
We go out this morning and our partridge silkie chick is MISSING. And I do mean missing. The shavings really are a pretty thin layer. Even on the off-hand chance it had piled up enough to cover a chick somewhere we hadn't notice, we swept through it ALL. Thoroughly. Three times.
It WAS unwell. It could hardly move from the spot the other chicks are at. I had been giving it egg yolk mixed with a bit of nutridrench since it didn't want to eat solids on its own, warm water through a syringe with electrolytes, and occasionally taking it out to get it extra warmed up with a paper towel wrapped around a rice-filled sock while I fed it. There is no doggy door, and the window is cracked for ventilation IF it's not too cold out. There is a bug screen on it whenever it's open and it has no holes/cannot wiggle loose. So I can't really imagine that's an issue either. It was pretty chilly last night so the window was closed then too. We've done a sweep of the garage. Nothing hiding anywhere. We checked for holes in the walls, under the windows, even under the garage door. It's so flush to the ground and strong (we couldn't even force it to lift up enough for even a finger to fit under). We don't really have much in our garage as we did a deep clean out after our move and tossed whatever junk we were storing. And we keep our cars outside, so again no opening it frequently.
There was no blood ANYWHERE, not even a single speck, so I can't imagine the other less-than-a-week-olds pecked it to death/ate it. They also have TONS of room, and a 20% chick starter that they go to town on, so I feel like without a huge vitamin deficiency or any 'cramped room' stress, it's unlikely (but not impossible I know) that happened.
So that leaves me with this: Where on EARTH did it GO? We do plan to set up a baby cam tonight. I'm very upset with myself I didn't do this previously, but we even had the inspector AND a pest control specialist CHECK the integrity of the garage when we moved in last fall to be CERTAIN nothing could get in (mice, snakes, etc.) So I never would've fathomed it could be a predator. I feel like I have to be missing something somewhere, because it's just GONE. Not to mention, ALL of the chicks were calm as could be this morning. I would wake up if someone was outside in our driveway and sneezed. I am a LIGHT sleeper. And I do mean light. So again while I am not infallible, I also feel like I might would've woken up if the chicks were panicked because something got into the brooder to get at them? I do not want to lose another chick to a predator if that's what happened, let alone in our GARAGE where they should be safe as can be.
I just need help brainstorming on what I could've potentially missed in search of what happened or if a predator did get to it. I will certainly add pics later of the garage. It isn't a huge garage, and we've checked under every sill, every inch of the wall, to see if there's even the tiniest of holes or anything could wiggle loose and no luck. I just don't want to lose any more babies if it was a predator that got into our garage. We're in there frequently too - I often go check on them at night when I can't sleep (which is frequent) just to be sure they don't need waterers changed, there's no really messy bedding, top up their food, etc. so it's also heavy foot traffic.
The single normal door to the garage was also locked so it's not like someone could've come in to steal a chick (let alone the weakest baby Bantam one). I have a 'thing' about keeping doors locked. I don't go to sleep unless I've checked the entire house is locked down, garage side door included, at least three times. (I know, I know - it's a whole thing.) And it was definitely still locked this morning.
The brooder is also way too tall for any of our Bantam chicks to hop out of. By far. Especially at this age! And it was so very weak yesterday, I can't fathom it got enough strength to hop out and hide in one of our few boxes (which we also checked, to be sure there wasn't a predator hiding in there...). Just so baffled, and so very upset with myself on what could've happened. I had a feeling we'd lose this baby, but certainly not this way. :[
We have seen signs of something digging at our outside coop, but we've got a hardware cloth skirt around it and the paw prints have since stopped from being near there. Whatever it was seems to have given up, but I feel like based on the paw prints and hole size, there's no WAY something of that size could've snuck into the garage without a visible escape route. Feeling like a really bad chickie parent this morning. So any advice is much appreciated. I want to know if I've royally messed up, but please try to be gentle as this is our first chicken journey and we do care deeply about the well-being of our lovelies.
