Chick just hatched, seems to be under developed? I'm new at this, please help! Have had 5 deaths so

[Sphynxii]

Well its good to know i didn't offend you I dont know maybe im having a good streak.

 

[Meety Peety]

UPDATE - The chick has died. My fiancé just came in as I was writing this and told me I don't need to finish my reply. I'm pretty bummed, I was really getting my hopes up that it was just a newborn that needed time to adjust. I don't think taking it away from the hen would have caused it to die, since she was completely ignoring it anyway, and even stepping on it. Anyway - since I've already written it out, here's what I was going to say:



Thanks for all the replies! I will try to address everything. The hen does have a ton of room, and she does move the eggs around from time to time. Lately, she has not been sitting on the eggs during the day as she is so busy with her new chick.. I'm surprised this egg hatched after a week of no hen laying on them - although she may be laying on them at night still.

As for putting the chick back with the hen, I may do that. I'm going to keep the baby under the lamp for tonight just to keep a close eye on it and because it seems like the mother hen is about to give up on her other baby as well. She just seems like she's done and ready to get back in the yard. 7 of my 10 chickens were raised under a lamp so I'm pretty confident I can keep her healthy as long as she starts out that way. I would like the mother hen to raise them.. but I get the feeling she just isn't much of the mothering type. She acts much different than my last broody hen did, and she has seemed to lose interest in the eggs and her new chick.

And yes, the chick was wet when I picked it up. It wasn't drenched or anything, but it was a bit damp and the blood on it's underside was definitely wet, not dried up or old looking. I didn't get enough of a look at it to be sure if there was any sort of cut or opening in the skin, so it's possible it could have just been some fluid from the egg or something. I'm not 100% certain if blood would be common or not. I figured it was common to lose some chicks - I only had 3 eggs hatch out of my first batch which was probably about 10 eggs or so, but I guess I was worried because I've never had any try to hatch but not make it, then all of the sudden I had 5.

 

[Sphynxii]

Im so sorry to hear that , I wish you the best of luck next time.

As for the hen, perhaps you're right. Just keep and eye of how her little chick goes and if she starts stepping on it or ignoring it maybe raise that one under a lamp as well.

 

[Meety Peety]

Thanks Sphynxii. Not sure there will be a next time. I really like the idea of letting the hens grow the flock.. but I've had some pretty bad luck with it my first two attempts. This time has been especially rough but even the first attempt only yielded 3 chicks, one of which was a rooster. On top of that, they always hatch days apart. I never understood how some people get like 8 chicks to hatch on the same day. My 3 were almost a week apart from each other and this time around, they would have been a week apart again, with like 3 eggs still sitting there in the brooding box unhatched.

I really hate it when my chicks die. Fiance cried too and that's never good.

 

[glendaschicks]

So sorry!

 

[Sphynxii]

Not good indeed :/ Well I know its something thats been said before, but these things do happen and it is heartbreaking when little animals, or any animals pass. I know this very well as I breed guinea pigs and we loose many young ones, it's always upsetting I know, but with the babies of any kind that do make it, I belive its worth every second of he care and through the pain and joy i always gain atleast one good thing from it. Dont get me wrong im not urging you to continue breeding.

A suggestion maybe?

You could buy some older chicks and raise them maybe a few weeks old so their not so fragile?

 

[flockgirl]

So sorry to hear...