Over last week or so we isolated a chick that was about 3 weeks old. It was having a rough start by having to deal with a lot of cold rainy days and a case of gape worm. Gape worm infection caused a change in chicks voice compromising hen's bond with chick. Then hen came back into lay because was being fed too much. Chick was treated with for gape worm but seemed to have a secondary infection of some sort that took an additional week for the chick to beat. At point of treating for gape worm we brought chick into live largely in a paper towel lined ice-cream bucket. My daughter with some help from brother then began caring for the chick by taken it out to eat and drink every couple hours. For about 5 days the chick would consume nothing but live meal worms which was expensive. We invested $20 in the meal worms. Weight stabilized after two days of that feeding regimen and began to come back up. Chick still underweight and now smaller than its cousins that are a week younger than it is.
As of yesterday the chick gets to go back outside with my daughter serving as broody hen. My daughter is learning a great deal from the process. She has three broody game hens, with chicks of their own, that my daughter must contend with as they all have over lapping territories administered by a game rooster that controls roughly 2 acres centered on the house. My daughter successfully stood off one of the broody game hens that meant ill towards the chick. That is start of what made story worth telling. Daughter and chick (Ty) are move about yard from clump of vegetation to clump of vegetation to find juicy bugs. My daughter is learning from Ty that not all bugs are good. For some reason large black field crickets should be left alone. Crane flies are good but should not be chased after unless really abundant. Cut worms are awesome! Rollie pollies are good in moderation. Earthworms are tasty, but dad says do not target those as they may be a source of the gape worms. The real game hens seem to be picky about which earthworms are good. Stink bugs smell bad and the chick can smell it when the bug is the type with a yellow belly. To my it smell like the stink bug that eats plants in cucumber family.
Daughter is also learning where to look and how to do it when after forage. She is even slowing down and crawling so chick can forage while keeping up. Daughter is also learning the chick has considerations related to staying warm and dry that a 5-year old girl does not normally think about. And then there is the sleeping pattern and other predators. Daughter is all about shepherd that runs after vultures scanning ground for young birds.
As of yesterday the chick gets to go back outside with my daughter serving as broody hen. My daughter is learning a great deal from the process. She has three broody game hens, with chicks of their own, that my daughter must contend with as they all have over lapping territories administered by a game rooster that controls roughly 2 acres centered on the house. My daughter successfully stood off one of the broody game hens that meant ill towards the chick. That is start of what made story worth telling. Daughter and chick (Ty) are move about yard from clump of vegetation to clump of vegetation to find juicy bugs. My daughter is learning from Ty that not all bugs are good. For some reason large black field crickets should be left alone. Crane flies are good but should not be chased after unless really abundant. Cut worms are awesome! Rollie pollies are good in moderation. Earthworms are tasty, but dad says do not target those as they may be a source of the gape worms. The real game hens seem to be picky about which earthworms are good. Stink bugs smell bad and the chick can smell it when the bug is the type with a yellow belly. To my it smell like the stink bug that eats plants in cucumber family.
Daughter is also learning where to look and how to do it when after forage. She is even slowing down and crawling so chick can forage while keeping up. Daughter is also learning the chick has considerations related to staying warm and dry that a 5-year old girl does not normally think about. And then there is the sleeping pattern and other predators. Daughter is all about shepherd that runs after vultures scanning ground for young birds.
