chicken hatches but then dies

[sherry lynn]

I have a hen that has been laying on eggs for about 3 weeks. This morning when feeding the chickens and harvesting the eggs, there was one dead chick and the other egg was still present. Five hours later the second chick was found dead also. They both looked ok other than that they were dead. One was still pretty damp when I found it. The other was pretty fluffed out. At both times the hen was still sitting in the laying box on the egg/chick. Any idea why they might have died?

 

[TwoCrows]

Sherry!

This post will probably get moved to the "Emergencies, Diseases, Cures" section of BYC as this is the Quail section.

HOWEVER...it sounds like the momma might be killing the chicks. This can be a common problem with hens. Some hens make good momma's and others don't. So in the future, should she again brood up a batch of eggs, you might want to remove them just before hatch and brood them yourself. Over time you will figure out which one of your hens can raise babies and ones that can't.

Good luck in your chicken adventures!!

 

[sherry lynn]

Thank you for your response. There were no visible signs of distress to the chickens' bodies such as pecking injuries. Could she have smothered them? Do they do that?

 

[Stephanie739]

Sherry!

This post will probably get moved to the "Emergencies, Diseases, Cures" section of BYC as this is the Quail section.

HOWEVER...it sounds like the momma might be killing the chicks. This can be a common problem with hens. Some hens make good momma's and others don't. So in the future, should she again brood up a batch of eggs, you might want to remove them just before hatch and brood them yourself. Over time you will figure out which one of your hens can raise babies and ones that can't.

Good luck in your chicken adventures!!

Not necessarily the mamas fault!! I had 3 babies die immediately after hatching, but 5 lived and mama australorp was wonderful with them. I also think they might have been suffocated, or step on (unintentionally) Perhaps a type of shrink wrap happened??? I moved the mom to see which babies had hatched. She seemed frantic when I did it...I didn't think much of it at the time, but thinking about lockdown in the incubator and the importance of not opening it...I'm not quite sure what shrink wrap is yet.

 

[Stephanie739]

I just know my broody definitely did not kill those babies. She couldn't have been a more attentive and kind mom.

 

[TwoCrows]

Sure....they can sit on them, stand on them...basically ignore them. Of course there could be some disease present that killed the babies, however it is not likely that they would both die in the same time frame together. If there are any other babies, I would take them away from this hen and brood them yourself.

 

[Stephanie739]

Quote: The first one that hatched (died soon after) hatched VERY early, like day 17 or 18. I think all were done hatching by day 19. I bet that had something to do with it. It was hot.

 

[TwoCrows]

If it was roasting hot in the coop, they may have died from heat exhaustion.

 

[Stephanie739]

It was before the heat wave, but still hot. I wonder if they died because they hatched too early, which I'm sure was because of the heat...

Anyway, I just wanted to say that the mom didn't do anything to cause their death (unless she unintentionally smothered them)...she was just lovely with her babies