Trying to find out what happened to Early bird. 😭

[Weeg]

Hey guys, some of you may have seen my other threads about my first hatch, and lone chick Early bird. We got her 5 new friends from TSC after her hatch, and everything seemed perfect.
The only thing we changed was the heating plate. We had it on for a whole day, no one chirped like it was to cold, no one ran out like it was to hot, it seemed perfect. She was perfectly fine last night, we've been using the heating plate at night and the lamp during the day for fire hazards. This morning we came out to find Aarly bird laying on her stomach outside the heating plate dead. Another little black and white chick was dead under the heating plate.
We previously lost a little white silkie bantam from not being cared for at TSC, could we have brought in diseased birds? No one is acting off, everything seemed perfectly fine. Could they have gotten to hot or cold under the plate? It was fine the night before, and we never seemed to have any problems until now. I'm just so confused. I never noticed anything wrong. Ideas?
Were feeding Organic Purina starter/grower, the water and food is always full and clean. Pine shavings is the bedding. Any input would be appreciated, thank you!

 

[thegreenestacre]

Wow, I'm so sorry that happened. That must feel devastating. We use a heating plate too and I always felt they were safer than heating lamps for the chicks. However if you lost two and the only thing you changed was the heating element that seems like it could be a culprit, especially as you didn't notice any symptoms. I'm so sorry again.

 

[Chickenwingwing]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[Weeg]

Wow, I'm so sorry that happened. That must feel devastating. We use a heating plate too and I always felt they were safer than heating lamps for the chicks. However if you lost two and the only thing you changed was the heating element that seems like it could be a culprit, especially as you didn't notice any symptoms. I'm so sorry again.

Thats what I thought. We do have them in our shop, maybe the temperature dropped over night, and for some reason the heating plate just wasn't warm enough to keep them warm?
I'm so devastated. We took her with us to the feed store to get friends because she was imprinted on me, and would scream if I left her. Its so, so heartbreaking. Thank you for your kind words.

 

[Weeg]

I am so sorry for your loss.

Thank you. Its so terrible, I can't believe that happened.

 

[Weeg]

@Eggcessive @who else can I tag?

Additional information-

We did take Early bird 2 hours to TSC with us to get her friends, since she was gonna panic in the brooder alone. She may have gotten cold then, along with the other babies, but she seemed perfectly fine after. I don't know if that helps at all.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry for your losses, it's really hard to have this happen. She might have been chilled during that trip, or something else may have been wrong with her, and you'll probably never know exactly why.
Have you checked your heat plate? How does it feel on the underside? Is it too hot to the touch? Chicks are fragile, and can have things wrong internally that aren't obvious. You did the right thing, getting friends for her, and I hope your other chicks do well.
Mary

 

[Weeg]

I'm so sorry for your losses, it's really hard to have this happen. She might have been chilled during that trip, or something else may have been wrong with her, and you'll probably never know exactly why.
Have you checked your heat plate? How does it feel on the underside? Is it too hot to the touch? Chicks are fragile, and can have things wrong internally that aren't obvious. You did the right thing, getting friends for her, and I hope your other chicks do well.
Mary

Early bird did only have 2 toes on each foot, and hatched with crooked toes, so would that indicate something unnoticeable being wrong?
I'll check the heating plate. I did check it before I put it out and it seemed fine, not to hot to touch. I didn't use my thermometer to check the temp though, because I was using it in the incubator.
Thank you for your kind words, I just feel like I failed her. I know I didn't its just hard since I have nothing to blame. Thank you for trying to help me figure this out!
Were returning the heating plate and switching back to the lamp just incase that is the issue.