The First Loss

Sadly, upon waking we found one of the chicks had died in the night. It is common to lose a chick or two but it is still sad. The reason for her death was pasting. When new chicks are stressed it can cause the poop to stick to the down and when it dries it stops the ability for the chick to go to the bathroom. For the first week or so it is very important to check each chick a couple of times a day for pasting. If there seems to be a problem, you need to wash their bottom with a warm wet cloth to clean the area or you can pull the down out from the area. Removing the down hurts the chick for a moment but it keeps the probability of it happening again to a minimum.

The rest of the flock seem to be doing well. There are a couple that are a bit smaller than the others and will need to be watched closely to make sure they are not getting bullied out of the feeder. The girls are now four days old and are more active and very fun to watch.