dead baby chick...do I need to do anything?

[Suess hens]

I came home to find my 3 week old Americauna lying on the ground. I am very sad, but I am more concerned with my remaining girls, they are all older (1-5 week old, 2-8 weeks old). Is there anything I need to do right now for them? I am finishing their new coop, and my hope at this moment is to finish it up tonight so I can just move them to a clean place.

 

[alex]

I dont knowwhat to tell you. I hope someone will help you.
I am very sorry for the tradegy.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sorry for your loss, if you saw no signs of sickness prior to it's death, it's just one of those things that happen.

 

[Suess hens]

She was acting cold for the last few days, but we had a sudden cold spell (I actually had an inch of hail in my yard on Thursday) and I just thought it was that. Then her eye seemed to get watery. This morning I washed her eye out and she seemed like that really helped.
I had the other three out with me in the garden while I was working on their coop (I still have the last part of their roof to go, and a few other things I noticed while I was trying to get finished) they all seem okay, no one is acting abnormal.
I guess I will keep an eye out. I am hoping to move them out in the next few days, then I am going to clean out the brooder really well for the next time--just in case.

 

[Suess hens]

just adding a picture of her:

I just uploaded it, I only took in on Monday.

 

[sammi]

I don't know what the climate is there, but chicks should be kept in a draft free brooder with a temperature gauge under a heat light, and kept at 95 degrees their first week,
and lower 5 degrees every week after that.

sounds like your chick had a respiratory illness, probably from chilling..
watery or swollen eyes is often a symptom of respiratory illness.

chilling can also cause malabsorption of nutrients..

best to get your chicks into a clean warm (with heat light and temp gauge) place,
try and get some chick vitamins for water,
keep an eye on the droppings for blood or diarrhea,...(cocci)
and if any show symptoms similar to the dead chick..(respiratory illness)...they'll need antibiotic..

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i keep my chicks under a heat lamp in a brooder until they are at least 8 weeks old. i may take them outside on short jaunts in warm weather at about six weeks. But have found they really like the heat lamp, even when they are fully feathered, for at least that eight week period.

i would suggest getting your remaining chicks back into a brooder under a nice warm heat lamp, with room to get out from under it if they choose, until they are a little older.

 

[2manyhats]

I love this forum! You guys are great. I have just gotten back into the chickens and have forgotten so much. My DH and I are fixing up the old coop and were just trying to remember when to put the chicks out. I have 2 more weeks with a lamp. Thanks for the reminder.

Kimberly

 

[wilds of pa]

cocci can also be a probelm in wet/moist condition....
Make sure to use medicated feed for at least 8-14 weeks OR LONGER IF YOU WISH.

Charlie

 

[Suess hens]

They are all on medicated feed. I had turned the lights back on when the temp dropped and she had seemed cold. The older chicks were funny, almost like they were sunning themselves in it. They are in a draft free environment, but at 3 weeks when the weather changed on me she was, for about a day, at a temp lower than 85 degrees. The rest seem to be doing okay. I think it was just the cold spell and getting chilled for her, she was the odd ball, much younger than the others I had in the brooder (where they all still are living).