1.5 weeks vs newborn chick

[LaurenRitz]

Not sure if this has been addressed, but if so I can't find it.

I have a single chick that was born last night. Her siblings are already about 1.5 weeks old. At this point she is in the incubator and they're in the brooder.

I hesitate to put her with them until she's a little older. What should I do?


*POI, these are the last eggs from a rooster that got taken by a predator, so the last set of eggs was older. They were all pullet eggs, so we didn't expect a high survival rate. We decided to set them anyway.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't anticipate you will have any problem by day 2 or 3. 90% of the time, older chicks will accept very young chicks if given enough space. That last point is the key.
I would always wait till the youngest were mobile on their own. Almost always by 3 days they are getting around well and have no problem negotiating the others.
So my questions are, how many older ones are there and what is the size of the brooder?
I have often placed a single 3 day old with 3 and 4 week old chicks in a sizable brooder with zero problems. I have put week old chicks with 4 week olds in a large brooding space. I once had a 10 week old cockerel that had been raised as a lone chick. After his initial shock from me adding five, 4 day old chicks, he adopted them as his own.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Thanks. The brooder is a large bin, apx 2x3, and there are only two older chicks. I have a larger bin I could use, or a small pen, but that's outside so may get too cold.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You are good to go.
Sometimes I would brood in large shipping boxes but if I had an age disparity, I would move them out to a small portion of the coop. Whatever you have but sometimes I would use a 4'X6' space and have had as many as 4 different age groups.

 

[LaurenRitz]

She's trying to walk. I'm almost as exhausted as she is, just watching!

 

[LaurenRitz]

I took her to visit the other chicks. They're interested and she was happy to see them, but she's a little unsteady for their speed. We'll try again tomorrow.

 

[LaurenRitz]

When I took her back to her brooder she wouldn't stop crying. She's back with her siblings and doing great.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Glad all is well. Lone chicks hate being alone.

 

[LaurenRitz]

The little head in back is the baby. They heard me coming and herded her into the corner to stand guard.