chick died

[NY Coturnix]

I had a 3 day old chick die yesterday, coturnix. This is my second hatch and I had one do the same thing last time. They all seemed very healthy then one seemed to just stay in the corner and stop being active only to die in a couple hours. Heartbreaking to watch...

I'm new to this and my mother who raises chickens told me that its happening because we're handling them too much. I really don't think I am. My kids or my wife will pick one up once a day but only for a min or 2 and then put it back. If this really is the case though I have no problem locking down the brooder to protect the chicks.

Looking for some advise.

Thanks

 

[Kale the Quail]

if you want to pick them up you could pick them up and hold them under the heatlamp in the brooder. so sorry about your chick
I don't think that holding them to much is the problem. my chicks are picked up at least 15 times a day.
just hold them under the heat when you pick them up.

 

[NY Coturnix]

Thank you.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

No, I don't think it is because of picking up. I guess you got them in the appartment and even the temps outside are now high enough.

I pick up the chicks 2-3 times a day in the first 3 days, just to clean the kitchenpaper I use in this time, before I use shavings.
And I leave them these 15-20 mins in a cardboard box without any heater.

And my daughter loves to cuddle them, only heating with her hands ... chicks love it.

Only thing to take attention is to wash the hands before picking up ...
... but in days of Covid19, we all wash our hands in 1/2 h rythm, don't we?

 

[Fenrisulfr]

P.S.: there are most times one or a few weak ones, which doesn't make it. Normal nature law of survival of the fittest.

Never the less heartbreaking

 

[mdees88]

Sometimes there are a couple who fail to thrive, especially if you assisted them out of the shell, that's just the way it is. Biggest thing I would check for on lethargic chicks is pasty butt... but some just don't make it. I don't think it has anything to do with you handling them....

 

[NY Coturnix]

Thank you all for you responses. We do have them in an inside brooder.

 

[FloorCandy]

I had one die on the 2nd day the same way. He was fine, then just crawled away and stopped moving, I immediately warmed him, offered hydration, nothing helped. None of the other chicks went near him.

A couple days later, I had one I had been trying to correct a bad splay and curl toe issue, despite all of our efforts, he just wasn’t thriving, even though he ate drank and pooped totally normally. When I put him back into the brooder to be with his siblings after I had put on his corrective pieces, and later when I knew there was nothing more I could do, they crowded around him and kept him warm and gave support.

I think they knew there was something wrong with the first chick, and instinct told them to let him leave the nest, I think they viewed the other one differently, they thought he could live. If yours crawled away and none of them went to him, they probably sensed there was nothing to be done.

It’s kind of a numbers game with chicks, so many are born, but there are quite a few who don’t make it. I’ve never heard or read anything that just holding them can cause this, in fact everything I’ve seen says to hold them and make them get used to you so they don’t freak out when you open their coop and injure themselves or escape.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I'm sorry for your loss

Unfortunately these things just happen. Quails have large clutches of chicks because not all of them make it.