my wife was afraid of killing them through some error or omission. We had one little runt (30% smaller than all the others) that we were sure was doing poorly.

my wife was afraid of killing them through some error or omission. We had one little runt (30% smaller than all the others) that we were sure was doing poorly. It refused to move and just sat uncomfortably under the heat lamp chirping like it's life depended on it. Then yesterday it started behaving normally and is doing great apart from being small. Inexplicably, the same day, I found one of the big healthy black orpington chicks lying unmoving next to the feeder and it perished an hour later.