GlenChick
In the Brooder
- Feb 28, 2015
- 21
- 0
- 22
Just over three weeks ago my broody Australorp pullet hatched two chicks from 6 fertile eggs that were given to me by the local feed store. One of the chicks didn't survive the first night, but the second chick did, and has proved to be quite a character.
I didn't have the set up to separate foster mum and chick from her two pullet sisters so chick and 'mum' have been in with the rest of my small flock from less than a week from the chick hatching.
The chick has been renamed 'Speedy' due to its agility and speed around my small run, dodging big pullet legs and feet, and even doing little test flights from my hand back into the run. It's absolutely fearless, stealing food from the big pullets (who admittedly are acting as 'godmothers' to the chick), and it seems to be higher on the pecking order than poor old 'mum' who is the smallest of the three pullets.
It's eating a variety of food - things that its scratched up from the dirt, a little cooked wholemeal rice (which all the birds get most evenings), chick food plus other grains and seeds that 'mum' directs it to eat. It loves insects and will catch flies on the run, and also the little bugs that I gather from the compost heap and that the pullets go nuts over.
The natural mother I believe was an Australorp, but I have no idea what the father was.
I have no idea what sex the chick is, and at three weeks it may be still too early to tell.
If anyone has any hints about breed and sex, it would be welcome as I can't keep a rooster in town and I don't want to get too attached to a chick that will have to be given away.
I didn't have the set up to separate foster mum and chick from her two pullet sisters so chick and 'mum' have been in with the rest of my small flock from less than a week from the chick hatching.
The chick has been renamed 'Speedy' due to its agility and speed around my small run, dodging big pullet legs and feet, and even doing little test flights from my hand back into the run. It's absolutely fearless, stealing food from the big pullets (who admittedly are acting as 'godmothers' to the chick), and it seems to be higher on the pecking order than poor old 'mum' who is the smallest of the three pullets.
It's eating a variety of food - things that its scratched up from the dirt, a little cooked wholemeal rice (which all the birds get most evenings), chick food plus other grains and seeds that 'mum' directs it to eat. It loves insects and will catch flies on the run, and also the little bugs that I gather from the compost heap and that the pullets go nuts over.
The natural mother I believe was an Australorp, but I have no idea what the father was.
I have no idea what sex the chick is, and at three weeks it may be still too early to tell.
If anyone has any hints about breed and sex, it would be welcome as I can't keep a rooster in town and I don't want to get too attached to a chick that will have to be given away.
