Lost One Today...

[Davian]

So, our 5 chicks arrived on Wednesday morning and all seemed fine until this morning. I checked on them at 7:30 am, filled their food, cleaned out their waterer and left for an errand. I came back at 8:30 am and the largest one (and our only boy) was drowned in the waterer.


Is this common? It was a standard chick waterer and of all of them, he was the strongest acting. My guess is that one of the others jumped on him or something.


4 left and no boys.

 

[jobeibi]

I'm so sorry, Davian.

My chicks came last week, and I've worried about them so much. Some of them seem to like sleeping with their chin on the edge of the waterer, like a pillow. I wonder if that's what yours did.

 

[Adorkable]

I'm sorry about your little boy

I read that drowning can happen when they're really small.
I usually put their water on top of something (like a wooden board) to make it a bit higher then their butt to prevent them from pooping in it but also to make it too high so that they won't be able to nap with their head on/in the waterer. When they're really young they just seem to doze off anywhere and I can see how they would fall asleep with their head in the waterer.

 

[yomama]

I'm so sorry about your little guy. Not sure if you have standard sized chicks or not, but I was at the feed store, and in the bins that had the bantam chicks, as well as the bins that had the teeny tiny quail chicks, they had marbles in their waterers. Made sense, since I can see those guys drowning very easily. I actually did the same thing form my chicks for the first couple of days, even though mine were standard size. Just made me feel a little less worried.

 

[gryeyes]

I'm so sorry you lost a chick - I, too, lost a chick to drowning - but in the incubator, on my very first hatch ever. I felt so bad - it managed to fumble into that water reservoir and drown within a 20 minute period when I was setting up the brooder. So I have marbles in the water reservoir now.

I also use nipple waterers now in the brooder, even with newly hatched chicks. They pick it up right away!

No poop in the water, no pine shavings in the water, no drowing chicks.

 

[outdoorschik]

Aw I'm sorry for your loss. I always put rocks or marbles in the waterer to prevent drowning.

 

[Davian]

Thanks for the responses. I have added marbles to the waterer as suggested. Now I just have to figure out what to do about getting a rooster at some point.

I was thinking of simply waiting and checking Craigslist for one as people are always trying to get rid of them but I had really wanted them to grow up together. I guess that's not possible now.

Now I have 2 Golden Wyandottes and 2 Barred Rocks remaining (the boy was a Buff Orphington)...that all look pretty much the same at this point. Of course its not definite that all 4 are pullets but there's a 90% chance supposedly.


If I was able to find a cockeral when these birds are 6-7 weeks old (ie just old enough to go into the Coop) would it be okay to put them all together if they're all fairly close in age? Would they accept him or should I take steps to integrate them?


~first time Chicken owner~

 

[yomama]

Quote:
I use the nipple waterers too. Love them. If it weren't for my duck that needs to wash her face often, it would be all I would use!