I’m sorry you lost a chick. Could be about anything....sadly they die under heat lamps, MHP, commercial brooding plates, and even under broody hens and we sometimes don’t ever find out why.
He could have had some internal abnormalities that just overwhelmed his ability to cope as his little system was maturing. Could be delayed shipping stress. He could have become trapped under MHP or between the layers of the setup and overheated or smothered. I think we’ve all lost chicks at one point or another no matter how well we take care of them.
My last batch of 15 Silkies were dropping like flies...I think you remember that, right
@aart? I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out what the heck was going on, then realized that I still had strong chicks I needed to focus on. I hadn’t changed a thing in the brooder setup or anything, and they were kept inside far longer than previous batches as I tried to get a handle on what was happening. But man, after not losing any chicks batch after batch, ending up with only 9 out of 15 was a bitter blow! After exhausting all theories about the usual culprits, the bottom line is I had healthy chicks to focus on and needed to get at that instead of beating my head against the wall!
Check your heating pad construction....make sure there are no little gaps where they can get trapped. Make sure the bag of food is fresh. Watch for a serious bully in the group. And focus on those you have left rather than beating yourself up. I’d even put a layer of paper towels down in the brooder, right on top of whatever you have in the bottom if you have to, and keep an eye on their poop for a day or so to see if that’s normal. Other than that, there isn’t much you can do unless you start to see issues in any more chicks. Again, I’m sorry you lost one.
