Dead chick- What caused it? Warning- Dead Pic

[margali]

History:
- Got them Thursday evening at Farm & Home. I was told they arrived that day from Crackle.
- Brooder crate with pine shaving, 18% Nutrena starter crumbles, water with a bit of Poultry electrolytes. Brooder lamp giving 95oF, set up in heated garage.

They were all running around last night around 8pm when I went to bed. Cream was one of the most active ones. When I got up and checked them this morning the temp was 85oF in the brooder. They were not directly under the light or in a tight huddle. Cream was on the edge of the group farthest from the brooder light.

All the other chicks woke up and started running around when I checked on them. Cream just laid on her stomach and stayed there. Her crop was still huge and she had fresh (still wet) poo under her vent. The vent itself wasn't dirty. She wouldn't take water or stand up. I put her under the hottest light in case she was cold. The other chicks' crops were small and had no poo on their buts. I had to do other chores and checked on her ~10 minutes later and she was dead. Laying on her side and in rigor.



Was this pasty but or something else? Did she eat to much and damage something? Should I switch out the electrolyte water for plain?

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

she might have been weak from the shipping and got trampled

 

[BlazeJester]

I had several chicks from a breeder that would suddenly just become lethargic and die with neurological symptoms in a position similar to yours. I know it wasn't disease because of their age; one had seizures, the others just quit.

I found a really useful website (which I have linked on my OTHER computer, of course) that describes mutations/system failure in very young chicks due to nutritional deficiencies in the parents. Unfortunately it's quite possible that if a breeding stock is fed an inexpensive feed to reduce costs, it may not contain all the vital nutrients in required quantities to produce healthy chicks.

Sometimes genetic mutations or recessive genes occur, too, that just make a chick unthrifty. So many possibilities with teeny chicks

Lastly, the chick may have eaten a pine shaving flake and its crop may have become blocked. I put my TSC chicks straight onto shavings last week and they've been fine, but you never know. Was she a bantam or standard size?

 

[margali]

Lastly, the chick may have eaten a pine shaving flake and its crop may have become blocked. I put my TSC chicks straight onto shavings last week and they've been fine, but you never know. Was she a bantam or standard size?

She was a standard size buff orphington. All of the chicks I got are standard size. All the other ones are doing okay still. I'm going to guess since she went from lively to dead overnight and her crop was huge she ate a shaving.

 

[onedoodle3]

One of my Buff Orpingtons did the same thing. She was a week old when I got her and 2 days later, she died. She was fine when I checked on them before heading to bed that night, got up the next morning and she was really lethargic..wouldn't eat or drink, put her under the heat lamp in case she was cold, held her for a little bit. Left and took my daughter to the bus stop. I got back home and immediately went & checked on her. I picked her up and petted her and talked to her and she died in my hand. I never thought I'd cry over a chicken. But I did. I took her out in the back yard and buried her. I have 2 Buff Orpingtons & 3 red left. Thinking about going back and getting some bantams if they get some in.