Mysterious death of chick?

[lauras]

Hi All,

I am new to the forum and am relatively new to keeping chickens, we got our first few last year.

One hen recently hatched 7 chicks (the first lot we have had) and she has weaned them herself now and they are coming on two months old and for the last 10 days have been allowed out of the run that I had them in while they were so small. All seven were doing great until yesterday when I found one dead in the grass. There was no sign of any marks or trauma on the chick so I don't think a cat strayed in or anything.

His crop was very full, almost bursting so could that have something to do with it? It was a very hot day yesterday, but there is water in many areas around the yard and they have a drinker in their own house and all of the others were fine. It happened in the space of about two hours because he is a different colour to the others so he is easy to spot and I had seen him a couple of hours before.

After the whole lot surviving the first few weeks it was awful to loose one now and I am afraid that there could be something I am missing and maybe putting the others at risk??

Any help greatly received!

Thanks!

 

[realsis]

Hi I'm so sorry for your loss! Many her crop got impacted? Do you offer grit for them to eat? If they are eating other than seed they will need grit to help with digestion. Also. Maybe if she ate long grsss or weeds her crop could have got impacted.its hard to know the exact cause. She could have been just full when she passed and didn't have a impaction at all its really hard to guess what happened with so little to go by. Sadly sometimes these things just happen.I'm truly sorry for your loss! Wish I could be of more help!

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with probable crop impaction. Check the others especially first thing in the morning when crop should be empty.