Wet chicks

[newbie100]

Hi guys, I have had 2 hens for about a year now and when one got broody a couple of months back I made the choice to put 8 eggs under her, on day 21 7 hatched!!!!! So we now had 9 in total? Everything was going fine they have been with us since Saturday 24th of May, until today we topped the water bowl up at around 3pm and I went to go change the bedding 3 hours later and unfortunately one of the chicks was dead, and the other 6 look wet and their feathers look like they are stuck together, it has been raining but not into the coop, it's just where the water gets spilt over, I have checked for that bum thing (sorry don't know the name off the top of my head) and all seams ok, also both hens has took it apon them selfs to both play mum and they are trying to out do each other to see who can get the most chicks under them, do I take the chicks in and rase them indoors in a bid not to loose anymore, or do I leave Mother Nature to take care of things?
One last thing after cleaning the coop out after finding the dead chick, I was covered my self in little tick things, I have never seen these before but I will get something for them tomorrow, but will this harm the chicks at all?
If it helps this is my first ever time and trying to rase chicks and I'm from the uk.
Any help would be great
Thank you

 

[newbie100]

Any one?

 

[missnu01]

What you got on you are mites and possibly what caused the death of your chick, among a hundred other different things

 

[GardenDave]

Hi Newbie, as far as I know a few mites are OK with older hens but still need a good clean before the problem increases. A larger population of mites could be the reason for the chicks death because some do suck blood etc. This is by no means a certain explanation though - just a theory. If your other chicks are OK it could be something different - I don't think mites would all go for just one chick and ignore the others.

Another possibility is drowning. How is the water? A bowl or bottle?

Of course the death could be natural too unfortunately.

So no help here, sorry, but I would recommend keeping an eye on the other chicks and if any seem sluggish, have a check for mites and check around where they were playing and sleeping too, and the mother.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I hope everything else goes well.

 

[newbie100]

Thanks for the reply guys, so I'm going to get some dust for theses mites, are these chick friendly?
Also is it normal for the chicks feathers to look all clumped together as they are all the same? Or shall I give them a bath of some sort?

 

[newbie100]

Sorry forgot to say, the water is in a bottle with a shallow tray the shop guy said it's chick friendly, the dead chick was under one of the hens and when she moved that's when I found it

 

[missnu01]

It might have been accidentally smothered, it might have died for no reason at all. At some point were the chicks dry? And then became wet looking again? Or is it possible they were a little sticky at hatch and never dried right? I don't know what would make them appear wet. And clumpy other than something getting on them.

 

[newbie100]

They got wet after the water got pushed over and the wood shavings soaked it up, they are now dry but look dirty, I'll post a picture of one up later

 

[missnu01]

It's possible that one chick just got too cold.

 

[gander007]

Young chicks are learning all the time but are better then the brooder by far and she did hatch them for you and will probable do more before the year is out if you let her be and raise the chicks ...


I only take chicks away from momma if she is hurting them ....