Dead chick. Advice needed.

[sweet-T]

My silkie hatched 3 chicks a week ago. She is in a small "box" within the coop that she can get out of but the chicks can not. Today my 13 year old daughter came home and found one of the chicks dead. We have no idea how this happened although there is another hen that is trying her hardest to co-parent these babies. In other words, she often sits in there with them along with the Silkie. I am thinking maybe it was suffocated? Maybe it was another hen or rooster? I don't know, I haven't seen any aggressive behaviors.
At any rate, would it be best to remove the other chicks until they are bigger? Then at what age do I re-introduce them to the flock? Will that be difficult? I would hate to have another chick die; my poor daughter is devastated.

Thanks guys

 

[RAWR]

mayby the chick was trampled :[ i hear that that happens alot. and i would just keep a close eye on the remaining chicks.

 

[Judy]

You described it as a small box. If it is not big enough for 2 hens and 3 chicks to fit comfortably, and you saw no injuries on the dead chick, I'd guess you are right, it was suffocated.

Personally, I believe I would try letting the silkie mingle her babies with the flock. If she is a good mother, as silkies often are, she will protect them from any aggressive hens. You could certainly supervise this. Removing and reintroducing safely means separating them til the chicks are full size, and even then it is not always successful; pecking orders can get violent. But I am no expert, and I am sure others would approach this differently.

This will be a hard but good lesson for your daughter; things go wrong, even though we try to prevent them. Give her a hug for us.

Here is a webpage about introducing chickens to the flock:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock