Lost a chick last night

[Dornes]

It's my first loss and I am new to chickens, it makes me sad. I was hand watering the chick and I am pretty sure it didnt' eat anything. I was checking last night for pasty butt and noticed its belly button area was really crusty and there was a small part of the umbilical cord there, like very small part, and it was really hard and it just didn't look right. So I checked some of my other chicks and they did not have that.....

could that be what killed it? Or it just up and died?

It didn't die in shipping but died within the same day as I received the shipment - should I call the hatchery?

 

[shellyga]

shipping is super stressful on baby chicks.. as is being hatched in a large hatchery.. they are handled/sexed roughly and some of the poor babies are just weakened by the process. I lost several of my first(of only 2) hatchery order within a week of their arrival. I don't know about the hardened thing you found or if that could be the cause. I also am relative to chickens -- first chickens a short year ago -- so maybe people with more experience will chime in.

Shelly

 

[Dornes]

Well, still no answer as to why it died, but I did call the hatchery and they told me to call tomorrow morning when we know for sure the fate of the other one. I still have that one set up in it's own little box as it was being pecked at when I put it with the others, thinking it needed company.

Poor babies. I am pretty sure that they are my hamburgs

 

[Kitt]

Most hatcheries will replace the baby you lost with in a certain amount of time. I will admit, I don't know why your fuzzie died. Maybe it was stress. Another person will come along soon and could be of more help. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Dornes]

Well the second one died tonight. Sad

The others that were in that shipment, not the same breed, they all seem just fine.

These two were supposed to be Hamburgs....

 

[sharol]

I'm sorry you lost them. I had a DOA chick in my MPC order last year, and of course it was the EE. It wasn't anyone's fault, it was just a weak chick. It may be that they were just weaker and smaller than the others to start out.

 

[Noobchick]

I'm too new at this to offer any advice the others havent already offered-- just wanted to say how sorry I am that you're going through this. Its my first time with chickens and I can imagine how sad it would be to lose chicks-- especially when it seems like you did everything right.

Hang in there. You gave those chicks a much better life than they wouldve had in a factory or farm store.

 

[tclegg]

Imsorry for your loss...sometime the stress of selivery is too much...the cord and "button" you describe is normal..but sometimes chicks r too weak to survive. Im sorry too say but it nothin you have done it is just nature and that is what happens--not to be cruel...b/c I know the loss..and I am sorry...But take care of you "babies" that live on now...