something grabbed my baby chick

[bantymum]

Im so sad, I went out for a few hours today and came bak to find only one little baby chick under my red hen.
You may remember a few days ago I asked about putting day olds under a broody who had only been broody for 2 days. She took them in beautifully.

They were out in the sun with mum in the enclosed run. I can only think that she jumped through the only gap in the wire and into the unprotected yard. The rest has shadecloth about a foot high around the perimeter to prevent this happening.

Now I have a really weird question to ask:
What if i went and purchased another chick to replace the other. It would be the same as it is from the same hatching. Do you think she would object???or would she say Thanks Mum for bringing her home again!!

 

[bantymum]

I will go out tommorrow morning to the same place where I bought the others and give it a go.
If she gets narky I will take the chick back.
Unless someone can help me with this.
Has anyone tried this before?? Please help.

 

[TheBigWRanch]

You can always try it and see if it works.

 

[Julie in Al]

Put the Chick under her at dark so it will be with her when morning get here. She will be more likely to accept it.

 

[bantymum]

Yes Ive heard that chickens cant count!!!
But I know she should be able to tell between 1 and 2 chicks,
Ill get one shortly, its 2.30 here so ill wait until dark
but I need to watch her verrrrry carefully.
Thanks
Helen

 

[bantymum]

Well my beautiful red hen did accept the new chick as her own and things went really well until yesterday when i came home from work at 2.30 pm and she had died.
I am now mum to the 2 chicks.
RIP my sweet red hen.

 

[justusnak]

Awww.w..how sad! I am so sorry for your loss!

Do you know why she died? Was she sick? Predator? Oh thats just terrible!

 

[Firstrune]

Oh that's so sad! How are the baby chicks doing?

 

[mudhen]

Oh gosh! I'm so sorry for your loss! :aww What happened?

 

[bantymum]

Im so sorry to take so long to reply, I had trouble as I forgot my password and Ive had 2 nieces here for sleepovers.
Poor little brownie passed away and i cannot find anything that could have caused it, however apon checking her I found a yellow substance under her skin along the right hand side of her breast bone. . I didnt perform an autopsy I never would, but the substance was clearly visible through her skin.
She was severely underweight which I never suspected or noticed as she was so busy looking after the littlies.
One sad gesture was that she must have known she was ill and dying as she picked out lots of downy feathers and left them in a neat pile in a sunny corner of the little nursery yard , perhaps to keep the littlies warm when she wasnt there.
Have you seen anything like it before?
She really was a beautiful clever girl and im having a cry as I type this as she had such a lovely nature.