RIR chick died last night... Newbie here, be gentle

[Twitchy]

One of my RIRs died last night. My chicks are all about three weeks old. It seemed healthy before I went to bed, but this morning it was nowhere to be found. I searched all around figuring it had somehow escaped but I could not find it. Later on, I discovered that it was buried in the bedding (the others had finally uncovered it.) It was buried right near the feeder. I didn't see any obvious problems (pulled feathers, etc...) Could it be disease? Could the others have pecked/trampled it to death? I know my questions are vague and I'm probably not giving enough information here, but what kinds of things should I look for? If there's a lesson to be learned here, I'd like to figure it out.

I have been feeding them medicated chick feed. I have been changing the water regularly. They seem to move all around the brooder, so I think the temperature is right. The only thing I had changed recently is that I fed them some baby crickets (from a pet store) the day before. I gave them some chick grit to help them digest the insects, and I didn't think that would cause any issues.

Sorry if this kind of thing has been covered before but I tried searching the forum and didn't find anything promising.

 

[Shared Acres]

How long have they been outside? Is there heat in there? Maybe got to cold?

Are there bigger chickens around? I've found that roosters will pop other chickens on the head, especially younger roosters and there will be no signs of trauma but I'll find them dead on their side.

 

[teach1rusl]

You know, sometimes there's just something wrong on the inside that we don't know about. Based on what you've written, it sounds like you were doing everything right. Your bedding sounds rather deep, but I don't see any connection there. If they were moving about well, then the temps. are most likely correct. You've inspected it's butt area? No pasting over??? These things happen sometimes...sorry you lost one

 

[Twitchy]

Thanks for the quick reply. They're actually in my laundry room right now, so I don't think it got too cold.

Two of the chicks are a bit smaller than the others (including one which might be a roo,) but the one that died was one of the bigger ones.

Maybe there's not much I can do, but I'm just worried that I'm going to come home and find more dead chicks. I can only have five in my city, so I just lost 20% of my flock.

 

[bigstack]

How much grit did you give? I have heard of chicks thinking the grit is a treat and stuffing them selves withit. it will compact and kill them.

Just a thought.

So Sorry for your loss!

Good Luck and god Bless!

 

[Sjisty]

Sorry for your loss, Twitchy. Sometimes these things happen and we never find out why. Welcome to BYC, the land of the crazy chicken people!

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

I was told when I first started to expect at least one chick to die so it is not uncommon for at least one to die and when they are bought at a feed store you do take your chances because alot of people come in contact with them or maybe it had the cricket stuck in it's thoat I never feed them anything like that till they are mature for that very reason.

sorry for your loss.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

and

sorry about this loss.

It does seem that you're doing everything right, but it's always good to re-examine your practices when stuff like this happens. It's good to be observant & aware, you'll learn to detect when they seem to be ill or uncomfortable. If everyone else is acting/moving/eating/pooping all right, then there probably isn't any disease at fault.

This could be just One Of Those Things That Happen To Chicks. In nature the hen lays more eggs than she needs to hatch, and hatches more chicks than are needed to grow to maturity. Some chicks just don't have enough of the Right Stuff to make it, or are just more vulnerable to accidents & mishaps. This sounds to me like the chick just got accidentally squashed by its flockmates, it could be due to its weakness or just bad luck.

You could still add new chicks to your home. I suggest getting 2-3 new ones, keeping them separated from the others for a month or so, then you should be able to keep them all together safely & happily. I suggest getting more chicks than you need as adults so you'll have extras in case some other mishap occurs, or if some turn out to be roosters. Don't get sentimentally attatched to them all, don't name them yet or knit them their own Christmas stockings. Keep in mind that you'll be selling/giving away all but the best 5, save your sentiment for the day you've whittled your flock down to that size.

Even though you can only keep 5 chickens in your city, it should be all right to raise more than that number of chicks at one time.