Death from stress from a storm or older chicks?

[Swurts]

Has anyone had a chick die from stress during a storm? I have 5 barred rock bantam chicks around 7 weeks and 4 older hens and a rooster around 11 weeks. They were all fine when I closed up the coop last night. When I went out to check on them this morning one of the younger ones was dead. We had some bad storms last night for the first time since I've had them. I'm wondering if it was stress from the storm or if one of the older ones killed it. They still haven.t fully merged as one flock since I moved the younger ones to the coop. They've had typical pecking order scwabbles but nothing violent. The little ones have an area that they can go into that the larger ones can't. I'm just trying to get opinions/advice on what everyone thinks.

 

[teach1rusl]

Unless you find wounds, there's really no way to know for sure whether it was killed or just died.

Unless they have been together for while and you've spent a lot of time observing them together and saw that the adults fully accepted the chicks, I would be very hesitant about keeping 7 week-olds in with adults (unless hatched/raised by an existing flock member) without a temporary wire barrier.

But that doesn't mean an adult killed it. It's possible that if scared, the little ones could have attempted to huddle in with the adults and been pecked/killed. Or the little ones could have huddled in the bedding on the floor and one got smothered. Or it could have had a heart attack. Or...or...or...just really too many unknowns.

Sorry 'bout your chick though

 

[Swurts]

Thanks for the reply!! I have an old large wire dog crate for the smaller chicks to run into if they need. Their food and water is in there too. Is that sufficient or should I completely close off an area of the coop for them? The larger chicks can't get in through the slots at all.

 

[teach1rusl]

The wire dog crate should be fine if the larger birds can't get into it... Just curious, how old are the other birds? Are they adults, or older chicks?

 

[azygous]

Your panic room sounds sufficient for the safety of the six-week olds. By that age, they know how to use it.

Your chick's death may be entirely coincidental to the storm, having nothing to do with it at all. Chickens will be startled by loud noises, but quickly will adjust to them. I've watched mine become startled in the beginning as the pine trees surrounding the coops and runs shed heavy loads of ice and snow, and it sounds like bombs going off as it hits the fiberglass roof panels. They become inured to the deafening racket within just a few minutes and go about their business as if nothing was happening.

Possibly your chick had genetic abnormalities that had set it up for an early death. This is not at all uncommon in the first few months after hatching - a sort of time bomb. It's very traumatic to have a chick die suddenly and you're helpless to explain it, but try to accept it's not due to anything within your control and the rest of the chicks will be fine as long as they're behaving normally.

 

[Swurts]

The older ones will be 11 weeks tomorrow. I'm not sure at what age I should stop calling them chicks and advance them to chickens. LOL! Thank you Flock Master for the info. I hope kind of hope it was just a coincidence and it was just genetic. I'm just a huge animal lover and take it personally when one of mine dies. I always feel like there's something I should have done.

 

[teach1rusl]

Ohhh...at 11 weeks I'd say 99% chance your younger chick was NOT killed by an older one. I was confused due to the hen/rooster comment as to their age. For me, once they're fully feathered out (including head) I begin referring to them as pullets (female) or cockerels (male). I think officially they are adult (hen/rooster) at one year of age (they're pretty much full size by the time they start laying, but will continue filling out/gaining weight for several months).

Sometimes some "what if-ing" is good if it helps the person address lacking resources or coop security. But in your case, it sounds like it was something that could not have been prevented. Just one of those things that happens in life...

 

[Jensownzoo]

I just found one of my older 8-ish week old EE chicks dead yesterday. The only thing that had been different in their lives is that since they were big enough, I had caught them up the day before to put numbered zipties on their legs in preparation of letting them start to free range. Everybody got a look-over during the process to make sure there weren't any obvious health concerns (external parasites, thinness, etc.). Was thinking it was either the stress of that (perhaps triggering an underlying condition) or they all huddled too close that night in reaction and squished her. Any way, it was a shock.

 

[kbky1973]

I had the same thing happen, it's the older ones, had to turn out older ones freaking s free range, now the 8 week olds are safe.