Why did my baby chick die

[Chicken211]

One of the chicks that hatched in the incubator didn't look so good. The other one did. The guy put them into an area with a light and paper towels on the floor so they don't slip. The healthy one was pecking the weak one but not much to hurt it. When i came to pick up the chicken we put it in a container with a red infrared 250watt bulb about a foot away from the container. We fed it water with a wet q-tip that was dipped in water. We just put it around its beak. Then my mom had to call my grandma and she said to feed it milk. my mom got a dropper and drop a drop of milk straight down its throat from above. It wasn't choking or anything. then we fed it more water with the q-tip. A few minutes later it stopped moving and water came out of its mouth onto the paper towels. The container was 1in pine shavings and two paper towels on top of it. We put the paper towels there so it can get on its feet instead of squirming around. So when it died we saw the paper towel had a lot of water on it. The chicken must of drowned from milk going down wrong pipe or we fed it too much water with the q-tip(which i don't think the q-tip killed it. I don't think it was sick i think it was the milk going down wrong pipe or something. I have no idea. Please tell me what you think happened and what i should do and care for the others. Food, water, exeter a. Thanks.

 

[Twistedfeather]

Not every chick lives. With all these conditions and diseases we may never know why it happens because they are so small and fragile anyways. Yes it is possible your chick could of gotten waterlogged but it could also just mean that it had something fail.

 

[Chicken211]

Yea it was just sad because it died out of nowhere and i never taken care of a chick before but i blame my mom and grandma because they wouldn't let me do anything haha.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi chicken211,
welcome to BYC. sorry about your chick loss. you don't ned a 250 red light. they are heat lamps. a regular incandescent light just heats the surrounding area. a 250 red is a heat lamp and specifically heats objects within the area, i.e. your chicks. Its too much. Take it out and put in a 60 to 75 watt incandescent bulb. then buy a cheap fish tank thermometer and stick it to the inside of the brooder where the chick rests about the height of the chick's head. it should read 95 degrees the first week. then drop the temp 5 degrees every week until the chicks are fully feathered. Then turn off the light. They will cheep loudly when you do. but it is because they just miss the light, . That will be at about 4 weeks old. I had my 2 week chicks get to 75 or 80 degrees and they were fine but protesting bit.
You can tell how right the heat is by the behavior of the chicks. if it is right, they will make a nice group under the light and sleep peacefully. If it is too hot, they will move away from the light, so raise the light a bit. if tthey huddle under the light and cheep, then it is too cold. Lower the light a bit.

About the chick that died. It may have had a case of travel stress. Here is a good article on it and how to prevent it. I wrote it a while back. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/746509/how-to-deal-with-travel-stress-in-baby-chicks
The Bovidr Labs products are just wonderful because they do not need digesting. They mainline directly into the bloodstream of the chick. You can use Goat, Pet or Poultry formulas. Just use the dosage and usage instructions for the poultry formula no matter which you choose. Your Mom and grandma will recognize the smell. It smells like Poly-Vi-Sol kids vitamins but is cheaper and specially made for animals. I used the poultry formula instruction with the goat formula to raise my chicks this year. 2 days ago, I wen tout to check the chickens at night and heard a faint cheeping. Finally located a single chick which had hatched from the coop and fallen out of the raised coop. It was unhurt but cold, lonely and thirsty. I took it inside, warmed it up and gave it one drop only of the poultry formula. ( repeat as needed every 8-10 hours) Within 15 minutes it was revived and is doing fine in its small brooder.
That said, we do not know why your chick died. Something maybe have just been wrong with it. These things happen. That is why hens lay more than one egg. What we can do is thank the ones that don't make it for their teachable moments. The things we learn from their brief lives which help us become better chicken people. That's a good thing and a proper testament for a chicken no matter how long it lives.

Best Regards,

Karen and the Light Sussex
in western PA, USA

 

[chikinlady]

Chicken211, I know how you feel. I also had a weak chick die last night. Like you, I fed it from a dropper for four days. When I noticed that he was eating a little, I stopped force feeding him. However, he was not growing and peeped constantly. It is heartbreaking to lose a chick that you have tried to save, and I'm questioning whether I did anything wrong. I have to remind myself, however, that he was weak and sickly from the beginning, but he was cared for and loved during the short time he had on this earth.

 

[Horsebackrules]

I've heard pine and cedar bedding is toxic to just about every small animal. I know for sure it is toxic to ducklings. Idk if that's why the chick died, but I would suggest changing the bedding anyways

 

[Jagallo12]

Is this true for adults as well? I just got 7 new hens and i am currently using pine shavings from the feed store. What bedding would you suggest?

 

[Horsebackrules]

I'm not sure if it's true for adults but I would switch just to be sure. I know it's toxic for snakes, ferrets, probably all rodents. I think hay is the best but aspen bedding is good too

 

[Jagallo12]

Great. Thank you!

 

[Sheeny]

One of my hens hatched 7 chicks, but they have all died in the last 24 hours. They seemed fine. Five died during the night. I found them in a huddle in the coop. The other 2 were dead outside the coop when I got home today. It was cold last night (3 degrees). Is it likely they got too cold ?