Any hope? Adoptive mama advice

[Wainbowmudd]

We have a small flock of 6. We have room for more but only wanted 6-8 originally. So we had a hen go broody, she sat on two fake eggs and we decided to let her have two babies. Adoption day and the following 2 days went off without a hitch. The 3rd day we were visiting them and noticed one of the babies had pasty butt. I cleaned her up and put her back with mama. The next morning she had passed away.

We didn’t want the remaining baby to grow up alone so we sought another chick. They’re in high demand here so it was a couple days before we could get one. By then Mama hen had made her way out of the nest with her one baby and showed her around the yard. When we tried to introduce the new baby, she did not take to her. She is of course almost a week behind the original baby and needed more warmth and mama is all about being out in the yard and not in the nest much now. So we set up the brooder and now the new baby is alone too! I tried introducing her to mama again today and it went the same way as last time.

Mama and original baby are doing blissfully well. Maybe I should have left her alone and not tried to replace the baby she lost?! Ahhh the learnings of chicken keeping.

Now I need to decide what to do with new lonely chick. I really want to keep her but not if she’s unhappy and alone of course. Any advice????

 

[Wainbowmudd]

Is there any hope of mama hen coming around with more exposure?

 

[rosemarythyme]

You can't add a chick, she's already accepted the one she has as her baby and will treat any others as intruders. If you try to force it she may kill it.

You need to brood the new chick yourself and I'd suggest picking up yet another chick or two, so the newer chick does not grow up alone.

 

[Wainbowmudd]

You can't add a chick, she's already accept the one she has as her baby and will treat any others as intruders. If you try to force it she may kill it.

You need to brood the new chick yourself and I'd suggest picking up yet another chick or two, so the newer chick does not grow up alone.

Thanks. I feel like such an idiot. If I get another chick or two what will the integration period look like later when they’re ready to go outside???

Maybe we should give the chick a new home instead. We only got her because I was worried about the original chick growing up alone but the new one is a gold laced Wyandotte which my husband has always wanted so of course he wants to keep her. I just want what’s best for the chickens

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks. I feel like such an idiot. If I get another chick or two what will the integration period look like later when they’re ready to go outside???

Maybe we should give the chick a new home instead. We only got her because I was worried about the original chick growing up alone but the new one is a gold laced Wyandotte which my husband has always wanted so of course he wants to keep her. I just want what’s best for the chickens

If you have room for another chicken then get another chick or two. Or if you have the will to sell the extra as started pullets once they reach integration age.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If I get another chick or two what will the integration period look like later when they’re ready to go outside???

Depends on your set up, you can try integrating them while they're fairly young, or brood them longer until they're bigger and can "stand up" to the adults. Either way they'll need a period of see-but-don't-touch, until the other birds aren't so interested in their presence, and then they can start spending time together with hiding spots, treats or free range time providing some distraction.

I do early integration, so it takes advantage of a chick's tiny size in providing safe, chick-only zones. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

If you have room for another chicken then get another chick or two. Or if you have the will to sell the extra as started pullets once they reach integration age.

x2, do you have space for an additional 2-3 chicks, if you keep the human brooded ones?

If not they should sell fairly easily as started pullets.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

Do the chicks look alike? Thinking that maybe the problem.

My chicken must be a fantastic chicken or just really smart. When she left her nest with her 7 chicks and I found one of her eggs slightly cracked I decided to help the chick be born, it worked but I didn't introduce it to her until the chick was strong to walk, and that was about 2-3 days after (if I recall correctly) . Whenever she came close to the door, I took the baby chick out to her and she immediately caressed it and tried feeding it (at that time it was too weak to follow) so I let her meet it daily 2-3 times a day or more; usually I took advantage that I would give her feed and that forced her to stay longer. The chick would sort of play (as if we were leaving it in kindergarten because it didn't really recognize her as mom), then run to us again, so we'd take her in. Then I had to go on a trip for three days and took the chick with me, when I came back the chick was stronger, and mom still recognized it. When the hen finally felt secure with me I ventured to put the chick under her to sleep and she accepted it, had to wake up early at sunrise for 4-5 days straight to pick up my chick because it still wasn't following mom, and since it was smaller than the others it usually got left behind if it did try to follow a bit.

Finally after about two weeks we had to lock them up in a room because we had to go out again for a couple of days, her nest was in the garden (since we are first timers we were afraid she might reject us or hurt the chicks when they were small); we decided to leave the chick with loving mom. Because of that constant interaction, now the chick does prefer mom and it's siblings and just sort of stops to say hi to us.

 

[Wainbowmudd]

Do the chicks look alike? Thinking that maybe the problem.

My chicken must be a fantastic chicken or just really smart. When she left her nest with her 7 chicks and I found one of her eggs slightly cracked I decided to help the chick be born, it worked but I didn't introduce it to her until the chick was strong to walk, and that was about 2-3 days after (if I recall correctly) . Whenever she came close to the door, I took the baby chick out to her and she immediately caressed it and tried feeding it (at that time it was too weak to follow) so I let her meet it daily 2-3 times a day or more; usually I took advantage that I would give her feed and that forced her to stay longer. The chick would sort of play (as if we were leaving it in kindergarten because it didn't really recognize her as mom), then run to us again, so we'd take her in. Then I had to go on a trip for three days and took the chick with me, when I came back the chick was stronger, and mom still recognized it. When the hen finally felt secure with me I ventured to put the chick under her to sleep and she accepted it, had to wake up early at sunrise for 4-5 days straight to pick up my chick because it still wasn't following mom, and since it was smaller than the others it usually got left behind if it did try to follow a bit.

Finally after about two weeks we had to lock them up in a room because we had to go out again for a couple of days, her nest was in the garden (since we are first timers we were afraid she might reject us or hurt the chicks when they were small); we decided to leave the chick with loving mom. Because of that constant interaction, now the chick does prefer mom and it's siblings and just sort of stops to say hi to us.

Wow that a story. I hoped she would accept her like that! The chick that passed away and the chick we replace it with was the same type but one was a silver laced and one gold laced (Wyandotte’s). They look pretty identical to me but maybe she could tell. I tried two different times and she pecked her hard both times so I haven’t tried again (

 

[Wainbowmudd]

Depends on your set up, you can try integrating them while they're fairly young, or brood them longer until they're bigger and can "stand up" to the adults. Either way they'll need a period of see-but-don't-touch, until the other birds aren't so interested in their presence, and then they can start spending time together with hiding spots, treats or free range time providing some distraction.

I do early integration, so it takes advantage of a chick's tiny size in providing safe, chick-only zones. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/


x2, do you have space for an additional 2-3 chicks, if you keep the human brooded ones?

If not they should sell fairly easily as started pullets.

Thank you!

I love the outdoor brooding idea! We do have plenty of room.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

That really is a pity, yeah maybe she could tell the difference.
Right not I have hens hatching other's eggs, just hope they don't have problems if they see the chicks don't look like them.

Wow that a story. I hoped she would accept her like that! The chick that passed away and the chick we replace it with was the same type but one was a silver laced and one gold laced (Wyandotte’s). They look pretty identical to me but maybe she could tell. I tried two different times and she pecked her hard both times so I haven’t tried again (