My chicks got crushed in the coop

brewfarm

In the Brooder
Dec 4, 2017
48
30
49
Redmond, Washington
I got 50 Rhode Island Red chicks to expand my flock. I haven't lost any in 8 weeks. I merged the flock, everybody is getting along. Everybody has food and water. The chicks have been keeping to themselves a lot. At night they have their own little corner in the coop. They still like to hang out where their brooder box was. I haven't had heat lamps in 2 weeks. They've been curious about the nesting bars, but aren't using them yet. They sleep on the floor together. Some of my hens like to sleep on the floor, they just never took to the roosting bars. They have their own spot.
This morning I found 5 dead chicks where the hens like to sleep. I'm guessing they huddled together and the smallest gals got crushed. It wasn't a cold night. They have all their feathers. I don't know why they would pile on each other.
I am so sad and ticked I'm not sure what I should do next.
 
I too have different age chickens, adults, juvies and 8 wk chicks. The juvies still sleep in the floor too, they were raised in a brooder box with no roosts. The bitties are not big enough for the roosts yet.

Were it I, I'd take a piece of hardware cloth and put around the bitties in the evening. This keeps them from trying to snuggle under the hens that are sleeping in the floor. Maybe it was cool or damp and they decided Hey,we're all chickens together and the big girls just squashed them in the night.
 

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