For the first time ever, I let my broody hen try and hatch some chicks. Three hatched and seemed healthy and vibrant and she was a very attentive mother hen. I moved them into a separate cage after they were born to keep the other hens from attacking the babies. The cage is about 3ftX3ftX2ft tall. I had to wire the water and feed tray to the sides of the cage otherwise she would knock them over and spill food/water all over the place. I kept the cage very clean, it had a mesh bottom so that all droppings fell below away from the chicks and changed their papers daily.
A few days ago my husband went out to check on them and found the biggest and strongest yellow chick dead. There were no wounds of any kind and his neck looked fine and not broken. Today he found the other two dead, same deal, no wounds and no clue what happened to them. All of them were acting normal and healthy the night before with nothing out of the ordinary, although we have had a lot of thunder storms and tornado warnings lately.
Now the mom is frantic looking for her chicks and her top piece looks pale to me. Could she have some illness that she passed on to her chicks? Could she have smothered them during the storms? Although I don't think there was a storm the night the first chick died. My first thought was that she trampled them, but it's been three weeks and it didn't happen when they were smaller and more vulnerable so why now? I am trying not to get too upset about it, but it just seems so pointless now after keeping them alive for all this time that they would die out of nowhere and for seemingly no reason. The only other odd thing I can remember is that after they were a few days old, I saw mama throw up some water after drinking a lot too fast. Is that normal? Could that be a symptom of some chicken disease? Please help! I am so sad and I want to prevent this from ever happening again.
A few days ago my husband went out to check on them and found the biggest and strongest yellow chick dead. There were no wounds of any kind and his neck looked fine and not broken. Today he found the other two dead, same deal, no wounds and no clue what happened to them. All of them were acting normal and healthy the night before with nothing out of the ordinary, although we have had a lot of thunder storms and tornado warnings lately.
Now the mom is frantic looking for her chicks and her top piece looks pale to me. Could she have some illness that she passed on to her chicks? Could she have smothered them during the storms? Although I don't think there was a storm the night the first chick died. My first thought was that she trampled them, but it's been three weeks and it didn't happen when they were smaller and more vulnerable so why now? I am trying not to get too upset about it, but it just seems so pointless now after keeping them alive for all this time that they would die out of nowhere and for seemingly no reason. The only other odd thing I can remember is that after they were a few days old, I saw mama throw up some water after drinking a lot too fast. Is that normal? Could that be a symptom of some chicken disease? Please help! I am so sad and I want to prevent this from ever happening again.
I can offer no advice as I am fairly new to chicken farming. I am currently nursing a sick chicken and I know if she died I would be upset too. I hope you get some answers.
