Disappearing chicks... WHERE DO THEY GO?!?!

[Sazbaby]

We are seriously having the worst luck this year on hatching out eggs as well as having chicks survive... it has been so very frustrating. To get to the point, we are having chicks just vanish. One hen (a very good and aggressive mother) had 3 chicks with her and one day all of a sudden there were just two. Now, she was out roaming with them so surely, something could have just snatched a chick I guess. Managing her and her chicks has been a bit of a chore with our setup, so I made the call to take her chicks to the "nursery" and send the hen back to the flock- she is too aggressive to put in with the other young ones. So I threw her two remaining chicks into the coop/run we are using for our nursery- it had inside 3 standard chicks around 6 weeks old, 1 silkie chick around 3 months old (all 4 of these are extremely docile and non-aggressive), 1 buff orp with 2 chicks about 4 days old (this hen is also very docile), and 1 silkie hen with her 1 white chick about 3-4 weeks old- this hen is pesky to the new ones at first but she settles back down and has never really caused any trouble. The 2 new chicks I put in yesterday are both silkies about 5 weeks old. The silkie hen pestered them a bit but as it was almost night, they all settled pretty quickly. Now this morning I went out to let the new chicks out of their little box I had put them in to make sure they didn't get chilled, and somehow the little white silkie chick was just gone! I just can't see how a chick in an enclosed pen, with a good mother and already accustomed to everyone in the pen except the 2 new chicks, could just vanish! There's no sign of struggle or feathers anywhere, it's just GONE. Anyone had any experience with a situation like this? Would one of the hens just suddenly decide to kill and eat a chick they had been around for a while? They had all gotten along just fine before I put the new chicks in and just didn't figure 2 little chicks would cause any problems... I'm just so disappointed- it was a nice little chick, the only one to hatch from a dozen eggs I had shipped to me... I keep going back to look again because I just can't believe it is GONE! It just makes no sense whatsoever to me... Any ideas???

 

[farmer boy]

i would just bring all the chicks inside the house and make a little brooder for them if you want to keep them alive thats what i do with some of my chicks but im letting the broody hen take care of them this time but i have big roosters around so nothing comes in the yard but my cats and my dogs that goes outside

 

[aoxa]

Is there anywhere this chick could crawl into if it was hiding? I've had my chicks seemingly disappear, only to find them some time later. As for it happening so many times, I really don't know.. Any chance that a predator came into the pen?

 

[Jmanvanatta]

i would just set up a chair and sit and wait! also drink coffie

 

[Sazbaby]

I was hoping maybe the chick was just hiding, as there are several nooks and crannies inside the coop as well as a couple in the run, but the chick is nowhere. I even took the mama hen and put her a little distance from the coop so she would squak, and there was no response. It's like she doesn't care so much either, not like she's searching and calling for the chick or ANYTHING. It's sort of like the chick never existed? A predator is very unlikely, I checked all the boards and wire this morning to be sure, and about the only thing that can get in there would be mice/rats/snakes, since there is a small opening at the bottom of the door. I've had rats eat chicks before but never a chick that was under its mama, leaving everyone else alone??? There's no sign of distress either, I'm just so confused. I would love for it to show back up at a random time, would make me so thrilled actually, this little buggar was really high quality and was going to be a keeper no matter what... It just all boggles my mind. The only thing I can figure is that one of the hens killed and ate it??? But certainly not its mama, and the other hen just stays with her own chicks, didn't seem concerned with the others in the least. I just don't understand and am so frustrated to keep losing chicks over and over again despite efforts to keep them safe.

 

[CAjerseychick]

Wouldnt there a few feathers or at least something to indicate if it was cannibalized by the Flock (very curious as I am hoping to hatch out chicks in the spring-- have a rooster and 18 pullet- chicks....)

 

[sincobra]

w

 

[Jmanvanatta]

w? did you just post thats so you could find this forum easyer? Well i did to

 

[Habibs Hens]

Could be a snake ate it

That would explain the no struggle or sign of it


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Sazbaby]

Well, so... It's all come together. Still a bit strange though... after the countless times rummaging through the nest and coop, with no signs of anything at all, I was starting to think a snake got it or it slipped out the door when I went in/out and I hadn't noticed, and maybe it became a cat toy... (highly unlikely as it was terrified to be away from mama!), I had found absolutely nothing. It's the only silkie with white on it, so feathers are easy to identify and there were none. Well, just now I was out finishing things up for the night, and had to move one of the nesting boxes to another pen, and when I glanced into the silkie's vacant nest, there it was staring at me... not a chick unfortunately, at least, not a whole one. But a WING and a little piece of some internal part, all dried up and yucky. So there you have it. I suspect it was a rat that came in and ate it under then "night time oblivious" hen. What I DON'T get is how the pieces mysteriously showed up this evening, 36 hours after I found it missing... Like it's been planted there after the fact! lol Anyhow, I guess I'm going to have to buckle down and put hardware cloth over all the small openings that we have had forever, never been a problem except for mice getting in and eating/pooping in the feed. I just hate that it had to be THAT chick, of all the times something could have figured out there are tasty morsels in there... So, there you have it. I'm still very upset about it but relieved to at least have a clue about what went down.