Baby chicks in November

[Lynette]

One of my silkies has been broody for awhile and hatched out some eggs yesterday apparently. I went out this morning to feed them and give them scratch and found one dead behind the coop and one dead under it. I opened the roof to the house up and there is one baby that is still alive that she is sitting on. It has been getting cold here at night (upper 20's to low 30's). I don't know if I should take the baby away from her and raise it in the house or let her keep it or move her to another area where her and the baby can't get outside and away from other chickens. I would hate to have to raise it myself because being it is the only one, it would be harder to introduce it to the flock again. What should I do?

 

[aoxa]

Keep it with mom. Move mom somewhere that she doesn't have to go up or down a ramp with the chicks, as they probably can't get back up when it's time to go in.

 

[what did I do]

If you only have one left you want to keep it with mom. I moved my hen with chicks into a small space of their own for the first month. I put them in a pet carrier to nest in a small part of the barn. 20 to 30 is a little cold but if there isn't any drafts they should be ok. They just need to be someplace where they can't get away from each other.

I have 2.5 month old chicks out in the coop with mom. We have had temps in the negative numbers. All is well.

 

[Lynette]

Thank you for the replies. I just got done moving them to a section in one of my coops that was originally a storage room. It is away from the other chickens and they can't get away from each other in there. But no, I absolutely didn't want to take the baby away from her.

 

[aoxa]

Thank you for the replies.  I just got done moving them to a section in one of my coops that was originally a storage room.  It is away from the other chickens and they can't get away from each other in there.  But no, I absolutely didn't want to take the baby away from her. 

That sounds very ideal.

The chicks that died probably couldn't get back to her and died from the cold. I've had this happen when the mom can leave, but the babies can't follow.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know why those two died. I occasionally have some die after hatch. It is really rare but I once had a hen kill three of the eight she hatched and successfully raise the rest.

I don't know what your set-up is like, but if she hatched yesterday she almost certainly did not take them off the nest yet. For them to be scattered like that sounds like somethng scattered them and probably not the broody. It's also possible they fell out of the nest, could not get back in, and just wandered around in their own. I don't know what the lip on your nest looks like but that just does not sound right to me.

If it was maybe rats or another hen I'd expect then to be partly eaten or marked up. I really don't know what is going on but I would leave the chick with the hen with the chick in a place they cannot get separated.

 

[Lynette]

Well after this, whenever my girls decide to sit on eggs, I will be moving her and her eggs to the sectioned off part of the coop from now on. It will be alot easier on her and me.

I hate finding dead chicks.....

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've never had anything like that happen, just that one broody killing some of her own chicks and raising the rest. She never hatched any more chicks.

Since you have a history of something like that happening, I think what you plan is wise.

 

[LeJeune1]

I hate to hear about dead chicks too. I have 3 broodies right now. Due to hatch in 2 days.