Lost a baby chick -- diagnosis?

[FarmLady323]

It breaks my heart...I am so sorry for the loss you had to go through.
I just lost a 4 day old baby of mine "Flipper." I loved that lil baby.
I will never forget how precious it's lil life was.
I am devastated...

 

[Laura518]

I just lost a 4 week old RIR chick. She had shown no signs of illness, seemed fine the night before, as I always go in and check on everyone. But when I went to greet them this morning she was dead, the others are all still alive and doing well. So sad, she was my grandsons baby. Any ideas out there?

 

[Jensownzoo]

I just lost a 4 week old RIR chick. She had shown no signs of illness, seemed fine the night before, as I always go in and check on everyone. But when I went to greet them this morning she was dead, the others are all still alive and doing well. So sad, she was my grandsons baby. Any ideas out there?

It could have been a genetic/developmental defect, but things progress so fast disease/toxin/etc-wise when they're that young that it is impossible to offer anything other than a WAG. Hopefully that's the end of it, but just in case, you might want to look up the procedure for submitting a bird to your state veterinary lab for necropsy--that way you are prepared if you have another loss.

 

[FarmLady323]

Sooo sorry about your lil chick

I lost a 4 day old lil one recently.
It broke my heart...

Best of luck with the other babies !

 

[3riverschick]

Enough of all this "just a weak chick" and "circle of life" stuff! there are biological reason why chicks don't thrive.
Laura,
here's what you do with a newly hatched chick or a newly arrived hatchery chick. Let's talk about the chick itself for a bit. On day 17.5 of incubation the chick opens it mouth and starts to drink the albium fluid for nourishment. Yes the yolk sac is there but biologically it has been reserved by the body to provide nourishment for the muscle and G.I. tract maturation after hatch. By the time the chick hatches, the nourishment in the egg is very low. Ok. If the chick is not fed within 6 hours of hatch, it starts to use the yolk sac for energy to live. Not nature's plan. The chick will continue to grow and mature but it will not completely achieve its genetic potential on muscle growth.
So you have a new baby chick...the first thing to do it feed the chick nourishment which does not involve the work of the rapidly maturing G.I. tract. That is 1 drop by mouth of Bovidr Labs Poultry-Nutri-Drench. Then put the Drench in their water so it looks like very weak tea for the 1st 2 weeks to get them off to strong start. http://www.nutridrench.com This top quality emergency nutritional supplement does not need to be digested. It mainlines directly into the bloodstream to nourish the bird. Without demanding attention from the rapidly developing G.I. tract. The 1st 5 days and then next seven days are critical periods of growth for the chick. Nutrition should be prompt and high quality. After the chick is one week old it should be provided with chick granite grit to help its gizzard grow large strong and healthy. If the bird is given the right size grit at the right age, its gizzard will grow in fine fashion and be ale to properly process food for digestion further down the G.I. tract. this can result in up to 20% more eggs from each hen.
Bottom line, I m tired of chicks dying and the owners being told it was just the circle of life Or the chick was just "weak". Get the nutrition into the chick post haste. Give it in a solution which does not need to be digested. The chicks needs are very simple. Warmth , humidity, nutrition, tactile touch, chick grit after 1 week old. Stop stressing the chick with all kinds of extras it doesn't need at that age.
Feed the chick early, nourish properly.
Best,
Karen

 

[Laura518]

Thanks 3riverschicks, I am not new to chicks, or their needs and had done all the things you had pointed out. That's why I was so surprised to find her dead. The other two continue to thrive, and are doing great. I do handle them daily, so I can keep an eye on weight gain and progress as well get them used to me. Thank you for your reply, I too don't like chalking the loss of life up to weakness or genetics.