Dead 1 week old chick.... What happened? pics included

[FaithAnn]

We had a one week old chick. It was alone since it was the only one that hatched. It seemed to be thriving, nothing appeared to be wrong. It was eating and drinking. It was on chicken starter and we gave it very small amounts of tomato and yogurt. When we left for work this morning it was fine, and when we got home this afternoon it had died. We looked it over and could see it had a swollen place on its right side right above its wing. it looked like there was fluid under the skin. I have included pictures taken after the fact. Any ideas as to what happened?

 

[NancyDz]

wow, that sux, sorry about your chick... I have no idea what that could be? Maybe an insect bite?

 

[threehorses]

It's quite hard to tell. In the picture that looks like his crop is full and ballooned. I would suspect the tomato if he got any seeds.

Tomatoes are quite acidic. I wouldn't feed them to first-week chicks. Much older birds, yes - birds on grit. The yogurt in small amounts is great and I've used that for years with great success. And of course the starter is wonderful.

Otherwise, as the others didn't hatch, I'd wonder if there wasn't something passed in the egg that caused this.

In any case, I'm very sorry for your loss.

It's heartbreaking to lose a sweet baby.

 

[FaithAnn]

I so hope its not the tomato seeds! I feel horrible! She was eating the seeds, but I didn't think it would be a problems since they were soft and small and she didn't seem to have a problem with them.

We got the eggs from a friend of mine. She has always said that their biddies never make it. It seems they only live a week or so. She thought it was because the hen would what she called "run them to death". I am new to chickens, so I don't know. We do have one chicken from our first clutch of eggs we got from her that made it and is doing fine, but the other biddies from this set of eggs which stayed with the hen have died. I don't know, could inbreeding chickens cause this? I know that they have had the same flock of chickens for a while and they just use the roosters that are raised by the hens?

 

[threehorses]

Chickens can pass diseases down "vertically", from mom to egg. More likely it's a weak line - she breeds weak babies. Or even possibly she's feeding for laying, not breeding, and the babies are dying early because they didn't have that 21 days of foundation nutrition in the egg that they need to thrive.

Laying and breeding diets are similar in calcium, but breeders need more nutrition to lay viable eggs. And yes - inbreeding is another cause. I had a line of chickens, spectacular national show type birds from a very big breeder. They were very hard to get to lay any eggs that would hatch, then any that would live. It took a lot of nutritional adjustment for me to get babies that thrived (and then sadly a raccoon ate the breeders and the babies in one night).

So it could be anything, really. A sad less, but it might not only help your future chicks but might also help her to breed better stronger babies. Let's hope.

In any case, i really am sorry for your loss. Please don't blame yourself. There's no rule that says we're supposed to know everything, or even most things, when we're starting. We just learn as we go.

 

[FaithAnn]

Thanks for your help and support. It still amazes me how delicate chickens are and how much there is to learn. It just feels like lately I am making all of the mistakes and my chicks are suffering because of it.

 

[threehorses]

It's weird, FaithAnn - they're very delicate, but then again they can be incredibly resilient at the same time. Really it's about learning some very basic but important rules about poultry keeping and sticking to them. Then you have less problems happen.

But unfortunately, not everyone had someone to walk them around and say "this is the way you do it" based on some old rules of poultry keeping (which are now scientifically explainable). But that's why this board is here.

You're not harming your birds - you just need somehow to get back to the basics while fixing the current issues.

That's where nutrition, environment, some understanding of how these birds work come into play. I'd be glad to make a list of the not-so-secret poultry rules if you're interested.

I'm going to make an article about it anyway because most of the problems I see here are just people not knowing some basic poultry success rules. So just let me know.

In the mean time, you're at the BEST part - the part where there's still so much good information to learn. Learning is the better part. Of course, it's always alot more FUN if learning doesn't involve some heartache. So we'll try to get you through that if you want. That's what the support here is for.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Dust yourself off, stick the chin out, and try again! It's worth it. /hugs

 

[FaithAnn]

THANK YOU so much! Any information you can provide would be very helpful and greatly appreciated. The hardest thing I have found is if you ask a question, a lot of time you get half of the people that say yes and half that say no....very confusing.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
You just have to take what they say and with a lil from here and a lil from there peice it together... Everyone does things a lil different you just have to find your way... Sorry bout your lil one! Don't give up this is a learning process and you'll get there..