Baby Chick and not prepared!

[mossypath]

Roxy
May I say If I where your parent I would be proud of you. It sounds as if you have a good head on your shoulders.
Good luck with this little chick.

 

[un-named543]

The chick may have been stretching or trying to lie and sun itself if it was lying on its side, left leg and wing stretched out.
Make sure no more poop gets stuck to the butt. This can dry on and prevent the little one from pooping at all and there will be big problems. You can wash any dried poop off gently with a warm wet rag of some kind. It problably squeaked (peeped?) because it didn't like what your mom was doing, but that did need to be done.
I'm glad you are asking so many questions. It shows you care.

 

[theoldchick]

Just wait until the little fella starts practicing his/her ninja moves!

 

[Roxy1778]

Great! After an hour or so of gardening outside with it we had determined that the chick was fine, but I'm glad for the extra confirmation. If my family is ready to take on the responsibilty of another chick and the long lifetime of them, then we'll have to start building the coop and run straightaway. I think a tall run and coop would be best, one that you can walk into for easy scattering of grain in the run. Also, we'd want one that is good for the hot weather in CA and mildly chilly winter here. If anyone knows of one good for this, I'd love a link. For now I'm thinking of using Chichen's Paradise Coop, but the lack of plans is a little intimidating for a beginner. I'll update this thread every once in a while if I have any more problems, or maybe start a new thread altogether if it doesn't relate to this one anymore. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Albanese07]

I'm glad you and the chick are settling in nicely! You are a very responsible young person! Good for you!
The poop must be cleaned off its butt or it can block the vent and the chick can die. It's called "pasty butt" and is very common in young chicks. They outgrow it in a few weeks.
So your mom was right to do that. All chicks squawk when you clean it but it has to be done.
Give unlimited chick starter and clean water.
There are LOTS of threads on here about coops- read and dream up your own ideas too!
Good luck you seem to be on the right path!
One more thing, if you're going to add another chick it should be done fairly soon so they're close to the same age, so they do get along.

 

[Atomic Ranch]

How's it going?

 

[Roxy1778]

Early Monday morning my Mom held a voting and almost everyone agreed that the chick should be returned to it's former owners, even I did. I was getting attached to the little chick but I knew it wouldn't be fair to keep it at the moment. We don't have a coop built, and we don't have the time right now to be building one what with finally getting around to renovating the house. Also, my parents weren't thrilled at all about needing to get a companion for it, so they opted for returning it. Even so, I doubt the people who gave us the chick knew much about raising them. They had two chicks and gave us the one while they kept the other, so they probably weren't worries at all about the repurcussions of a solitary chick. I'm doing research on where we could get cheap materials for building a coop in the backyard, and on the drive home from school I'm pretty sure I turned my Mother around on to my side. the owners of the chicks might be willing to part with both chicks if they knew they'd be recieved into a home prepared fully for them this time. If they aren't, then I can always wait until summer break to get other chickens, even though I'm really just holding on for that one chick that I spent nearly 24/7 with all weekend. Who knew 72 hours could get you so attached?
So I'd say it's going well.

 

[Albanese07]

Chickens can be very addicting! And they are really worth it. Good for you in doing your research! Coops really don't have to be that fancy or expensive. You can look on my pics for an idea of what we did for 2 chickens. I'm glad you haven't given up ! And also that ou can try to rescue th other little chick! Good for you! Good luck!

 

[RonC]

They often stretch one wing and leg at the same time and lay over on one side. Cleaning the poop off it's bottom is also sometimes necessary. Squeaking when being handled is normal til they used to it.

 

[Roxy1778]

I have good news and bad news, so I'll start with the bad news. Yesterday at our local city festival I approached the city's Animal Shelter group and asked about laws concerning chickens. The man in charge there was adamant in telling us that chickens were prohibited where I live. Another person working there told us her father, living in my city, owned chickens and hadn't been given any trouble. I guess we'd just have to make sure all of our neighbors wouldn't complain, and if they did we'd have to shush them with a complimentary basket of eggs.
The good news, my mother is wholly on my side now. Immediately after leaving the Animal Shelter tent, she proposed that we didn't tell my father just yet. If we did get caught for having chickens, then we would have to keep them at my grandmother's house who lives in a city where chickens are allowed.
So I'd like to know, is there any way we can change the rules in our city to allow chickens? Is there some official process we have to go through? I'll probably make another thread about this in a board concerning it, but if anyone here knows already, it would be a great help.