Dealing with grief
How do you guys handle when a little one dies? I took in a Rhodes island or production red about 2 months ago . I never had chickens and never thought of it. I quickly fell in love and I like having this thing to do outside and care for and get eggs in return. So I bought 4 Rhode Island reds from tractor supply and kept them in a brooder and moved the heat lamp as instructed. Around the 5 weeks mark I noticed one of the chicks was slightly thinner and had a red bald patch on the back of its neck which I was told could be from boredom/overcrowding so shortly I moved them into a enclosed coop and run inside the 130 square foot run I have for the grown hen. They have been out there for a week and everything has been fine and I saw no signs of distress. This morning around 10 am I checked on them and all 4 were perfectly fine chirping and foraging in the mulch. I through some scratch and went back inside. Left at 3pm to pick up my wife and checked another time and that’s when I found it. I’m not 100% of what happened I think she either broke her neck sleeping in a pile with the other chicks as they do and I’ve seen them trample each other before or she was pecked to death by the other 3 chicks. It looked like they went to town on it from the crop to the eyes were parts with exposed bone. They have food and water and room to roam. At the time of death the chicks was 7 weeks but still skinnier than the other 3 so it’s possible it was sick or bullied to death but still. It’s hard. Is this one of those things that gets easier with time? It’s really making me rethink if this is something I can handle