Pullet Sitting on Eggs

[Tretinker]

I'm so upset, our chick has passed away.

She got out into the main run and this time didn't make it back

I went out like I do every night to get them and bring them into the garage and Marshmallow was in the main coop with everyone and I knew then the chick was dead.

I search and eventually found her. She was just laying there not moving.

I'm gutted

Will Marshmallow be okay?

I should have built the wire higher.

 

[NatJ]

Will Marshmallow be okay?

The hen should be fine.
She may look for the chick and be upset for some amount of time (hours or days), or she may go back to normal behavior immediately. Different hens handle things differently.

I should have built the wire higher.

Putting a top on it might be another possible solution. I have never yet found a fence tall enough to keep ALL chickens in, because there always seems to be one that flies even higher.

 

[Sussex19]

I'm so sorry
Marshmallow should be fine, maybe a little upset, but she will get over it.

 

[Tretinker]

The hen should be fine.
She may look for the chick and be upset for some amount of time (hours or days), or she may go back to normal behavior immediately. Different hens handle things differently.



Putting a top on it might be another possible solution. I have never yet found a fence tall enough to keep ALL chickens in, because there always seems to be one that flies even higher.

We did try and net the top but it was in a corner with a tree in and so it proved tricky. In the end we were worried it was fallen on to them.

I think next time we will incubate ourselves and brood the chicks indoors with no mama. There is no suitable space while we are in Flockdown to brood outside.

I really hope Marshmallow gets over this quick, just feeling crap.

 

[Tretinker]

I'm so sorry
Marshmallow should be fine, maybe a little upset, but she will get over it.

Thank you, the more I think the sadder I am

 

[Solanacae]

I had a broody hen that I gave hatching eggs to. Her first time and mine. Only one hatched, due to a lot of problems I learned from. I was worried about the chick getting picked on, so I went out to the only farm store that had chicks on hand (it was October) and got two chicks that were the youngest I could find. They were about a week old and grafted into the broody just fine. The problem was, the grafted chicks were much more mobile, and the one my broody hatched wasn’t able to keep up. My broody must have thought there was something wrong with the hatched chick and started ignoring it and focusing her attention on the two grafted ones. I had a concert nine days after hatch day and was later than usual doing a head count. As I walked out, I saw that little chick on the ground by the ramp to the coop. The poor thing couldn’t find its way in and mama must have decided to leave it behind. I still feel a little guilty about that poor thing dying in the cold on its own, but time helps ease the massive guilt I get every time I walked past the place where I saw that chick. I’m sorry yours died, it’s not a fun thing to go through.

 

[Sussex19]

Thank you, the more I think the sadder I am

Just don't beat yourself up about it, these things happen.
I have had a fair few chick deaths, including a few that I feel were my fault.
One has to move on, but it's so hard!

 

[Tretinker]

I had a broody hen that I gave hatching eggs to. Her first time and mine. Only one hatched, due to a lot of problems I learned from. I was worried about the chick getting picked on, so I went out to the only farm store that had chicks on hand (it was October) and got two chicks that were the youngest I could find. They were about a week old and grafted into the broody just fine. The problem was, the grafted chicks were much more mobile, and the one my broody hatched wasn’t able to keep up. My broody must have thought there was something wrong with the hatched chick and started ignoring it and focusing her attention on the two grafted ones. I had a concert nine days after hatch day and was later than usual doing a head count. As I walked out, I saw that little chick on the ground by the ramp to the coop. The poor thing couldn’t find its way in and mama must have decided to leave it behind. I still feel a little guilty about that poor thing dying in the cold on its own, but time helps ease the massive guilt I get every time I walked past the place where I saw that chick. I’m sorry yours died, it’s not a fun thing to go through.

That's how I feel.

I checked on Marshmallow this morning and she seems fine, she was out pecking at the cabbage.

I made lots of mistakes.

 

[Tretinker]

Just don't beat yourself up about it, these things happen.
I have had a fair few chick deaths, including a few that I feel were my fault.
One has to move on, but it's so hard!

I do and it is!

I'm certain she was a girl too, I keep think of my last image of her alive in my head is her stood on her mum's back, all excited they were out in their little pen. So cute and then finding her. I should have gone out earlier, I had meetings but I should have excused myself because I knew.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I'm really sorry. For what it's worth, in the beginning I made lots of mistakes too when dealing with broody hens and chicks. Dozens of broody hens later that have hatched thousands of chicks, I have mostly learned how to prevent mistakes. But I still sad for the ones that didn't make it. My early mistakes included letting mom and chicks stay with flock (Flock hens killed chicks.), trusting that new-hatched chicks would/could stay with their mom in freezing temperatures (two chicks couldn't keep up and died of hypothermia), not properly blocking off bottoms of broody pens, which allowed copperheads to slither under pens and kill chicks, not sprinkling perimeters of broody pens with sevin dust, which allowed ants to kill chick as they hatched. Also, leaving chicks aged 3 weeks old out with mom at night, next morn 1 chick had disappeared without a trace; I feel sure a large rat snake got her. Those are just a few of the mistakes I made in the early years. There is much info re how to protect adult poultry from predators, but not nearly as much re how to protect broody-hatched chicks.
I have also made fatal mistakes with chicks I raised in brooders, and older chicks that were outside and fully-feathered. Some new chicks died due to mistakes their broody moms made too. Even though 99+% of chicks hatched/raised on my property make it to adulthood, years later I still feel sad for the ones that did not. The best I could do was learn from mistakes and improve chick pens security. Again, so sorry for the loss of your sweet little chick.