# Help, help! I believe my silkie hatched an egg and the chick died



## dmkrieg

Hello everyone, I went out to check on my chickens and noticed a dead baby chick in a stall with only silkie hens and a rooster. I have never hatched out babies before since I'm very new to chickens. But I do know my silkie hen has been sitting on a nest full of eggs. We have other hens in another area that lay plenty of large eggs so we just let the silkie keep theirs for the most part in their area. I would love to have her hatch out any fertile eggs, i just don't have an incubator for her. Also I worry about the barn being too cold. I live in Missouri and we have such drastic swing in temps. Should I bring her and the nesting box in the house and keep her and the eggs under a heat light for now?







. Any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.


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## seminole wind

I don't know, I guess I would bring her in or put a heat lamp on her since the chick looks good except for dead. Poor thing.


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## dmkrieg

seminolewind said:


> I don't know, I guess I would bring her in or put a heat lamp on her since the chick looks good except for dead. Poor thing.


I put her in a huge rubber tub and put a heat light on her. I couldn't figure out what on earth happened. I thought maybe they got too cold. It blended in with the shavings in the stall and I barely saw it. When it hit me, I thought holy cow I don't even know what to expect when they have chicks. I've gotten some from feed store and raised them but never hatched anything out.


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## dmkrieg

dmkrieg said:


> I put her in a huge rubber tub and put a heat light on her. I couldn't figure out what on earth happened. I thought maybe they got too cold. It blended in with the shavings in the stall and I barely saw it. When it hit me, I thought holy cow I don't even know what to expect when they have chicks. I've gotten some from feed store and raised them but never hatched anything out.


Btw... the tub is in my house so I don't have to worry about the cold.


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## Steinwand

Is she still sitting on the eggs?


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## dmkrieg

Steinwand said:


> Is she still sitting on the eggs?


Yep and even when I moved her she wouldn't budge. There are a bunch of them too. I didn't realize how many she had all tucked in there.


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## dmkrieg

dmkrieg said:


> Yep and even when I moved her she wouldn't budge. There are a bunch of them too. I didn't realize how many she had all tucked in there.


I picked up the nesting box which is actually a kitty litter pan. I just carried the pan with the silkie and her eggs all together there was another silkie laying eggs with her but she is the one that doesn't want to leave the nest so I just carried her in.


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## chickenqueen

It's a good thing you brought her in.It's too cold for new hatches.When one of mine hatched eggs in Sept.,they hatched for over a week and I lost the last one.Have some starter feed handy to feed them and give the dried chicks a drink of water by dipping their beaks in it.I hope you have a good hatch.


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## dmkrieg

chickenqueen said:


> It's a good thing you brought her in.It's too cold for new hatches.When one of mine hatched eggs in Sept.,they hatched for over a week and I lost the last one.Have some starter feed handy to feed them and give the dried chicks a drink of water by dipping their beaks in it.I hope you have a good hatch.


Great advice!! Thank you!! Im keeping my fingers crossed!


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## seminole wind

Aside from the death, hens brooding chicks is a whole lot less work. I had some silkies chicks out at 30 degrees and were fine running around all day as long as they could nap under mom when needed.


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## dmkrieg

seminolewind said:


> Aside from the death, hens brooding chicks is a whole lot less work. I had some silkies chicks out at 30 degrees and were fine running around all day as long as they could nap under mom when needed.


Question...I had another dead chick today in the house looks squashed. I hear a baby chirping but can't see it. When do I give it water and when do I let momma take care of them


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## dmkrieg

dmkrieg said:


> Question...I had another dead chick today in the house looks squashed. I hear a baby chirping but can't see it. When do I give it water and when do I let momma take care of them












That is her setup currently. Im getting ready to exchange the big watered for a smaller one. I just bought it tonight with some chick starter


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## chickenqueen

As soon as the chick is dry.The babies will hide up under the wings of mama where it's warm and safe.If you hear one,poke around her belly and wings.A chick absorbs the yolk prior to hatching and can go the first 3 days without water/food,living off the yolk and that's how they can ship day olds.Give them a little gravel,I buy gravel they sell for exotic birds because it's smaller,and it gets their digestive system off to a good start.They eat gravel and it goes into the gizzard to grind the food they swallow whole so it can be digested.Once again,good luck and post some pics of the chicks.


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## seminole wind

Boy that's terrible. You could take them as they hatch and put them in a brooder, and give them back when they're stronger. Silkies are pretty good about adopting tho it might take a few hours to figure out what mom is for.


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## dmkrieg

seminolewind said:


> Boy that's terrible. You could take them as they hatch and put them in a brooder, and give them back when they're stronger. Silkies are pretty good about adopting tho it might take a few hours to figure out what mom is for.












Little baby born and poking out from under momma. I put some water on my finger and she drank it off. Im letting the rest do their thing and just making sure she stays cozy in there with them and that they can get a sip of water.


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## dmkrieg

chickenqueen said:


> As soon as the chick is dry.The babies will hide up under the wings of mama where it's warm and safe.If you hear one,poke around her belly and wings.A chick absorbs the yolk prior to hatching and can go the first 3 days without water/food,living off the yolk and that's how they can ship day olds.Give them a little gravel,I buy gravel they sell for exotic birds because it's smaller,and it gets their digestive system off to a good start.They eat gravel and it goes into the gizzard to grind the food they swallow whole so it can be digested.Once again,good luck and post some pics of the chicks.


Chicken queen can I give them just chick grit? I put chick crumbles in there and a small cup of water. I didn't want to put something so big in that they drown but I wanted momma to drink and the babies if they can find it ok.

ANOTHER thing I noticed was the momma had huge poop in there with her. Is that normal? It was the size of small dog stool, which I found odd. I figured she probably wasn't going because she would have to leave the nest. But not sure.


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## Steinwand

Huge broody hen poop is normal, and I give my chicks Dumer chick grit which is really tiny


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## seminole wind

Chicks do not need grit if they're just eating chickfeed. I always grind up the chick feed smaller for a few weeks.


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## dmkrieg

seminolewind said:


> Chicks do not need grit if they're just eating chickfeed. I always grind up the chick feed smaller for a few weeks.


That's what I believe you guys told me late summer that if they were on chick feed they didn't need grit. I didn't put any in there just yet. Thanks for the confirmation.


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## Maryellen

The chicks will need to drink too. 
Get one of these and put marbles in the tray so they cant drown till they get bigger


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## Maryellen

I too grind up the chick feed, for some reason its not small enough for newborn chicks


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## chickenqueen

I don't grind the food and gravel is very important in the beginning,with no gravel in the gizzard they can't break their feed down.I always give it to mine,I mix it in their food.It gets their digestive system off to a good start.


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## seminole wind

I had 7 polish chicks once and they always looked like they were eating alot until I realized that I was cleaning up all the spilled feed. I ground it down and they were vultures! They were so hungry it brought tears to my eyes.


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## chickenqueen

Awwwww!!!!Did it ever occur to you they weren't digesting their food right?I do the bigger breeds and maybe that makes a difference.I've never had eating problems with my chicks.


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## seminole wind

From sitting there watching them closely, I could see them spit the big pieces out and look for the small pieces. I've seen it happen a few times and actually sat and watched. Maybe it is smaller breeds that have problems.


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## chickenqueen

I usually feed my chicks flock raiser.The crumbles are smaller.If I buy chicks,they get vaccinated and can't eat medicated starter feed and getting non medicated starter is impossible any more.I've had good results with it.


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