Lonely Chick...

Hi there, I am hoping for some help. I have 10 chickens all of various ages. 9 girls and a rooster One of my girls was broody and sat on her eggs. We found one dead as it was hatching, still half inside the shell and the other one starting to pip. We ended up incubating the pipping egg as we were concerned that Mum had killed the first one. This was the second time she had sat on eggs and the same thing happened the first time when we found a dead one that had just hatched. It was the only fertile egg and she was a first time Mum so we put it down to 'an accident' She was so broody that we let her sit on eggs again about 8
Weeks later. I won't do it again! I am thinking that she isn't a bad chicken, just not a good Mum. Our incubated egg hatched and we have 'Pearl' who is the sweetest wee thing. We noticed one of her feet was completely curled under and she was struggling to walk so we took the great advice from the forums on here and made her a 'moon boot.' After 2 days we removed it and she is walking beautifully my daughters put a soft toy in her brooder as we are worried that she is lonely. My concern is intoducing her 'back' in the flock.. although technically she has never met any of our chooks..Is it possible to do that with a single chook? Would we be better to get some more babies so that she has 'back up' when the time comes. My main flock free
range over 2 acres during the day and are all locked up in their nesting boxes together at night. I know we are a long way off as she is only a week old, but it is worrying us..I am worried about newbies too with disease etc. we have been lucky so far..They will be isolated from the main flock and be in with Pearl for at least 12 weeks which I suppose is enough time to work out if disease is present. Sorry for the long message, I haven't posted before but have found this site fantastic when I've had any worries. thanks so much in advance.

Niki Murray said:

One of my girls was broody and sat on her eggs. We found one dead as it was hatching, still half inside the shell and the other one starting to pip. We ended up incubating the pipping egg as we were concerned that Mum had killed the first one. This was the second time she had sat on eggs and the same thing happened the first time

Click to expand...

Being I have a lot of experience with broodys, I have a question----Was this hen alone in a private place or with all the other hens?

I have never had a single chick to deal with---I would probably look on craigslist/similar and find it a few friends its age.

Thanks so much for your response. The hen was alone in a separate nesting box away from the others. We also tried to introduce the new born chick back to Mum as I'd read that it can be done. We followed all suggestions, but Mum wasn't having it and started pecking very hard so it was back to the brooder for Pearl! I am thinking that you are right and I will find wee Pearl a few pals of similar age to bond with... thanks again