I've always raised my chicks from day-olds, but this year I had my old hen Dorothy hatch out her own babies. I didn't think chick-rearing could get any more adorable, but watching them interacting with a hen is just too cute!
However, I was distressed to find one of the five babies buried underneath the wood shavings yesterday morning, still alive but just barely. It had been absolutely fine the night before. It's little mouth was full of shavings, and it was gasping. I cleaned and rinsed its mouth out, and separated it from the others so it wouldn't get picked on. A bit later it was sitting up and peeping, so I thought it was recovering. Next time I checked, about 45 minutes later, it was dead. Any ideas? Do you think it smothered, or aspirated? Did it have a congenital issue, and that's why Dorothy tried to bury it? This happened on day 7, and it was feathering out as well as the others, and fighting for its food.
I've been lucky to never lose a chick in all these years, so maybe I'm overanalyzing - I know it does happen...
However, I was distressed to find one of the five babies buried underneath the wood shavings yesterday morning, still alive but just barely. It had been absolutely fine the night before. It's little mouth was full of shavings, and it was gasping. I cleaned and rinsed its mouth out, and separated it from the others so it wouldn't get picked on. A bit later it was sitting up and peeping, so I thought it was recovering. Next time I checked, about 45 minutes later, it was dead. Any ideas? Do you think it smothered, or aspirated? Did it have a congenital issue, and that's why Dorothy tried to bury it? This happened on day 7, and it was feathering out as well as the others, and fighting for its food.
I've been lucky to never lose a chick in all these years, so maybe I'm overanalyzing - I know it does happen...
