baby chick brought to my back door

[koko365]

hello,

two little boys around 8 years old came to my back door yesterday with a baby chick that might be a few days old at most.
I put it in a bird cage in my kitchen last night, but now I don't know what to do with it. It peeps non-stop except if I hold it. I do have crumbled tiny chicken food and water for it, but it is non-stop peeping! please give me some advice.

 

[Huntmaster]

hello,

two little boys around 8 years old came to my back door yesterday with a baby chick that might be a few days old at most.
I put it in a bird cage in my kitchen last night, but now I don't know what to do with it. It peeps non-stop except if I hold it. I do have crumbled tiny chicken food and water for it, but it is non-stop peeping! please give me some advice.

Probably cold do you have a heat source for it?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

hello,

two little boys around 8 years old came to my back door yesterday with a baby chick that might be a few days old at most.
I put it in a bird cage in my kitchen last night, but now I don't know what to do with it. It peeps non-stop except if I hold it. I do have crumbled tiny chicken food and water for it, but it is non-stop peeping! please give me some advice.

It need a heat source and a buddy. They don't do well alone

 

[SilverBirds]

Do you know if it is a chicken chick or some kind of wild chick? He needs a heat source as the others have said. A mirror or a stuffed animal will give him something to snuggle with.

 

[koko365]

hello again. Baby chick is now named Pumpkin. It's doing well...getting big. It's maybe 5 weeks old. It's living in a 25inch wide by 17 inch depth by 22inch tall small animal cage in my house. It gets good crumbles and treats and grit and about an hour per day of hugging and patting and some limited exercise walking around my kitchen floor (blocked off from my dog and pet cats). I'd like to bring it outside but there are a couple of concerns.

How old should it be when I bring it out?
I was thinking about putting it inside a medium-sized dog crate for just a couple of hours at a time maybe. It's used to living in air conditioning with a stuffed animal and heating pad to snuggle with at night. It's not been outside and it's 95 degrees hot out there!

Not sure how I'm going to get it into the crate and back out of the crate safely without it jumping out of my hands and maybe running away?

Also... I'm concerned because there is a wild hen in the yard with one baby chick. She used to have 10 babies, but there are two opossums that show up at night and so now she only has 1 baby left. (I tried to get her to take this baby chick that first week but she shrugged it off and it didn't know enough to follow her and the chick came running back to me)...(maybe that's a good thing cuz the opossum might have eaten it otherwise)... Anyway, the wild hen sleeps with her one chick in my carport where the light is on all the time. (There is also a wild rooster in the backyard trees...who doesn't protect them at all)!

My chicken house and enclosed coop where my 3 hens and 1 rooster live is at the furthest back of my yard. Eventually this is where I'll want Pumpkin to live.

So, how do I get from A to B?
I appreciate any and all advice!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. This is a great place to explore and hang out. Good idea is get 2 more they cannot live alone.
Bonus is fresh eggs. Once they have feathers no down they can live is secure run.

 

[koko365]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. This is a great place to explore and hang out. Good idea is get 2 more they cannot live alone.
Bonus is fresh eggs. Once they have feathers no down they can live is secure run.

I live in a city.
Law says I can have 4 hens.
I have 4, although one turned out to be a rooster. They are 11 months old living totally enclosed with a house and a coop and they share a giant basket for laying eggs - which I have plenty. Usually have 5 eggs every two days!
... now, about this chick?

 

[FrostRanger]

Generally once they leave the nest mother hens won't accept new chicks. To have any chance of her adopting chicks you have to slip them under her after she's been broody for a while and even then she still might not accept them

 

[pennyJo1960]

As long as it is hen 4 or 5 is a happy group or offer them on craigs list?

 

[koko365]

Has anyone read my post today? I feel like no one is actually reading or replying to my question.

I want to get this young 5-week old chicken to eventually live in the coop with my other birds. Do I wait until it is full-grown?