3 week old wyandotte chick randomly died

[newbiechickenmamma11]

Hello - new to raising chicks. I have (had) 17 chicks in a brooder which I got as day old/few days old chicks. I didn't have any issues that I was aware of - they were all growing well and also vaccinated against cocci. A few days ago, I sadly found one dead in the brooder.

It was a wyandotte chick and was the smallest of the lot. It didn't present any health issues that I was aware of before it died. But it was the smallest chick (despite them all being the same age, though different breeds). I'm not sure what happened, it had food, water and the required heat. I'm guessing either it was trampled on by the other chicks or had a random health episode. Is it normal to lose chicks like this when raising? I read on another thread to expect a mortality rate of 10% from hatch to lay. Is that true?

 

[BackyardinWales]

Sorry to hear about your little one.

I don't have any answers, but I'm sure someone on here can/will help.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Hello - new to raising chicks. I have (had) 17 chicks in a brooder which I got as day old/few days old chicks. I didn't have any issues that I was aware of - they were all growing well and also vaccinated against cocci. A few days ago, I sadly found one dead in the brooder.

It was a wyandotte chick and was the smallest of the lot. It didn't present any health issues that I was aware of before it died. But it was the smallest chick (despite them all being the same age, though different breeds). I'm not sure what happened, it had food, water and the required heat. I'm guessing either it was trampled on by the other chicks or had a random health episode. Is it normal to lose chicks like this when raising? I read on another thread to expect a mortality rate of 10% from hatch to lay. Is that true?

Sorry no one else replied, sounds like it could have been a runt/failure to thrive

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I really don't know why this has never happened to me, that's the only reason I didn't respond. How are all of the rest of your chicks doing? By now you're probably looking forward to egg laying! For the record I've always added an extra because I know how common it is to lose a baby chick, failure to thrive for sure happens. Sorry for the loss though, I know it's not fun. I have had a runt that made it to 2years but was never quite right. And I've lost a 7week old to Pendulous crop.

 

[newbiechickenmamma11]

Hi all, thanks for your kind words. I started with 17 chicks and had 2 pass, they're now 12 weeks now and the rest are doing well I was only hoping to end up with 6 pullets so had got more as I heard it was common to lose them. I guess I just didn't expect it to happen as I did all the things. Oh well.

I'm not ever sure what happened to that one, perhaps a failure to thrive. Is a 10% mortality rate from hatch to lay an accurate ballpark figure? Just curious.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

When you say "hatch to lay," the answer is probably YES. But it's not that high if you don't hatch your own. See where I'm going with that... some of the 10% has occured before you picked up or recieved your "day olds." SO it's no, not that high and not unreasonable to expect to never lose a chick. I've never lost a 2day old chick out of 100 chicks in 20 years.

 

[newbiechickenmamma11]

Got it! So the general rule is including the actual hatching. I was hoping not to lose a single one from my 17 but oh well. Thank you.