I woke up this morning and went out to check on my chickies and found one of them dead. (Yes, I'm POSITIVE it wasn't just sleeping...) My question is why would it have died? Is it just failure to thrive when they're this young (4 days)?
Lost a baby...
- Thread starter sillyovrsilkies
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We lost one the same way from a batch we ordered the beginning of the month. Not sure why. She seemed fine when they arrived that Wednesday, sleepy and lethargic by Thursday afternoon and gone by Friday morning. Sorry for your loss.
While it's true that Stuff Just Happens to such young chickies, maybe there are other contributing conditions. What is their brooder set-up like, the bedding, the heat, the container, etc? It could be just an unfortunate occurance, but perhaps there are changes you should make to avoid losing any more.
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We just have them in a large cardboard box with their heat lamp. Last night was the first day/night with the heat lamp b/c it had been in the 90's here & very warm in the garage. The temp dropped last night & today it's only in the 70's, so they needed their lamp. I initially set their box up with simply newspaper covered by paper towels (b/c I read NOT to use sawdust, etc. until they had accustomed to eating their feed so that they didn't mistake the sawdust for feed). However, I did add the sawdust yesterday evening thinking they were doing fine with their food. Do you think something occured b/c of that? I read on another post that people are advising giving baby vitamins (w/out iron) to the chicks who seem a little lethargic...is this a generally accepted practice?
We just have them in a large cardboard box with their heat lamp. Last night was the first day/night with the heat lamp b/c it had been in the 90's here & very warm in the garage. The temp dropped last night & today it's only in the 70's, so they needed their lamp. I initially set their box up with simply newspaper covered by paper towels (b/c I read NOT to use sawdust, etc. until they had accustomed to eating their feed so that they didn't mistake the sawdust for feed). However, I did add the sawdust yesterday evening thinking they were doing fine with their food. Do you think something occured b/c of that? I read on another post that people are advising giving baby vitamins (w/out iron) to the chicks who seem a little lethargic...is this a generally accepted practice?
Sometimes baby chicks just die out of the blue...seemingly without reason. I personally believe this is just nature's way- maybe something was wrong with it. I have even seen this in a three-week old chick. I cried my eyes out. I've lost them at just a few days, too.
I'm sorry for your loss.
I'm sorry for your loss.
You may want to keep the heat lamp set on one end of their brooder box, that way they have a warm section to go to when they feel chilled. Monitor the temps of the whole brooder, if it's already in the 90's in the garage they sure won't need any extra heat during those times. Their behavior may tell you more than a thermometer, if they're huddled under the light they need more heat, if they're staying far away & panting they need less. If they're happily peeping & pecking & moving easily around the box they are just right.
I've never used sawdust for bedding, just straw or non-cedar shavings, so I wouldn't know how that could harm them. I guess you could check to see if their crops feel hard or packed, that might mean they're eating too much sawdust. You could change to a different bedding if you want to eliminate that concern.
If the others are acting lethargic you could try giving them some of the vitamins, or put a little sugar in their water, or give them some hard-boiled egg. If they're otherwise acting well you may not need that.
It still could just be something inherently wrong with the chick, that happens often in the best of circumstances. It's Nature's Way that the hen lays more eggs than she needs to have hatch, hatches more chicks than she needs to grow, grows more chicks than are needed to survive to adulthood. But whenever it happens, it helps to look at all the other variables to make sure there isn't something else contributing to the loss.
I've never used sawdust for bedding, just straw or non-cedar shavings, so I wouldn't know how that could harm them. I guess you could check to see if their crops feel hard or packed, that might mean they're eating too much sawdust. You could change to a different bedding if you want to eliminate that concern.
If the others are acting lethargic you could try giving them some of the vitamins, or put a little sugar in their water, or give them some hard-boiled egg. If they're otherwise acting well you may not need that.
It still could just be something inherently wrong with the chick, that happens often in the best of circumstances. It's Nature's Way that the hen lays more eggs than she needs to have hatch, hatches more chicks than she needs to grow, grows more chicks than are needed to survive to adulthood. But whenever it happens, it helps to look at all the other variables to make sure there isn't something else contributing to the loss.
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