When I checked on my Silkie chicks tonight out in the brooder-coop with my broody hen, I counted and discovered that one chick was missing. In a panic I started digging through the hay suspecting the worse. I was worried that perhaps a rat or a snake had somehow gotten into the bottom of the coop and might have started picking the chicks off one at a time.
It turned out that the missing chick had fallen into a crevice between the bale of straw on which the nest sat and the wall of the brooder-coop. I'm not sure when it happened, but the chick probably got too cold and expired in the last 24 hours.
I know it's all my fault for keeping things set up that way with the nest, especially after they had hatched out. A few days ago the gap was much smaller, but I imagine that the straw bale was drying and shrinking with the heat from the nearby heat lamp. As a result the crevice got ever so slightly larger over time.
To remove the crevice hazard, I temporarily removed the remaining chicks while I rearranged the brooder-coop setup. I removed the bale of straw with the hatching nest and much of the other loose straw and got everything to ground level in the brooder-coop. Now there are no more dangerous crevices or areas where chicks can get trapped. The little chick that was lost, unfortunately, was the one splash Silkie in the bunch. The rest of the chicks are white or blue(grey).
I feel terrible about not noticing the crevice issue sooner and losing that poor little chick this way. However, I've learned a very important lesson about the importance of brooding arrangements from this unfortunate incident.
It turned out that the missing chick had fallen into a crevice between the bale of straw on which the nest sat and the wall of the brooder-coop. I'm not sure when it happened, but the chick probably got too cold and expired in the last 24 hours.
I know it's all my fault for keeping things set up that way with the nest, especially after they had hatched out. A few days ago the gap was much smaller, but I imagine that the straw bale was drying and shrinking with the heat from the nearby heat lamp. As a result the crevice got ever so slightly larger over time.
To remove the crevice hazard, I temporarily removed the remaining chicks while I rearranged the brooder-coop setup. I removed the bale of straw with the hatching nest and much of the other loose straw and got everything to ground level in the brooder-coop. Now there are no more dangerous crevices or areas where chicks can get trapped. The little chick that was lost, unfortunately, was the one splash Silkie in the bunch. The rest of the chicks are white or blue(grey).
I feel terrible about not noticing the crevice issue sooner and losing that poor little chick this way. However, I've learned a very important lesson about the importance of brooding arrangements from this unfortunate incident.
