my nineweek old Buff Orpington runt, died today suddenly

[kycklingmamma]

Hi there,
I am totally new to this forum and to chicken keeping, and to our horror we came home tonight to hear that our little runt Saturday (cause we got her on a saturday) was dead. I have no idea what happened. We live in Houston, TX so it is hot here all the time, but I do have fan on in their run/coop, so they can somewhat cool themselves off.
I still have 3 Buff orpingtons and 4 Australorps, what do I do to make sure they won't die?
They are on grower feed and have been for a few weeks, before that they were on starter. I also give them frozen watermelon slices to cool off, as well as renewing their water in the middle of the day so it satys drinkable and coolish (?). I haven't started grit yet, but they do have access to my flowergarden and they love to pick in the dirt there so I think they might get enough "grit" from that, am I correct? What went wrong with her? She was significally smaller and just now lost all her fuss on her head, att 8-9 weeks which is much later than all the other ones.
Please give me some ideas as what went wrong and what I can do to make sure it won't happen again.

Petra

 

[hcammack]

some times chicks just fail to thrive it sounds like this is what happened with your runt and she just did not grow and there is no reason for it. The others could also have picked on her or kept her away from food and water. I am sorry for your loss and just wanter to let you know everyone experiances losses and do not get discouraged.

WELCOME TO BYC !!!! and THE ADDICTION OF CHICKEN KEEPING

Henry

 

[rooster-red]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[kycklingmamma]

Thank you for the responses. We have come to the conclusion that what you said is probably correct, not that my daughter agrees, she thinks Saturday was fine and why did she die. I am now hoping nothing will happen to my 7 other little girls.
Again, Thanks