Baby chick rejected, brooder box by itself or add another chick?

[Silkie Pet Lady]

Hello. My 2 silkie hens sat on a nest together and hatched 9 chicks (6 hatched this past Saturday then 1 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, and 1 on Thursday). One of the hens started pecking the new chicks so she has been removed. Today, the good mother hen (she's been teaching them to eat and drink and sharing her treats and letting them climb all over her), started pecking the chick born on Wednesday. She gets really agitated around this one. It's the only one who's multi colored (grey with black swirls) while the rest are solid grey, black and only one white. I've tried several times to reintroduce this chick, but she goes after it every time. The cute little rejected chick (named Marble) is tucked in my shirt with me right now while we set up a brooder box for her. My question is should I take anther chick (probably the newest one from Thursday) to go in the brooder box with Marble? I feel bad for taking an accepted chick from its mother, but I also feel bad to have Marble be alone. This is my first experience with hatching chicks so I am a little anxious about doing the right thing.

This is Marble, oh so cute!

 

[ChuSayBok]

Oh so cute Marble!

Not good for little chu to be alone. If you're going the brooder route, I would definitely swipe a brood mate, especially if no one will be with it most of the day for company. If you are home a lot to observe and spend time, you could allow the chicks to be together while they are eating and such; you might have to remove the mama during that time. Or bring the other chicks as visitors. I've never had a mother reject her own chick, but I have introduced orphans under hens with hatchlings. One was a week older than the chicks the mother had, but was black like the majority of them, and also was intelligent and knew when to be scarce and didn't make a big scene. We also put a yellow one under her which was obnoxiously loud and she rejected it thoroughly. However, it would manage to sneak under her at night with the others or I would put it there after dark. The black one integrated with no probs. You could try doing this, but because she has already rejected it, she will probably continue to do so. But it would have the benefit of being with it's peeps and under a real mother at night and you could remove it during the day.

 

[Silkie Pet Lady]

Thank you for the advise ChuSayBok. I have thought about having Marble sleep under her at night but am afraid that when I go out in the morning, she might be injured or dead.

I will make sure she hangs with all the others during part of the day to establish relationships with them. I think I'll take the youngest chick to be Marble's brooder mate.

I'll keep trying to see if the hen will take Marble back, but don't expect much because she seems pretty triggered by this chick. I'm wondering if it's because she looks different.

Thanks again!

 

[ChuSayBok]

Let me know how it goes! If you take her out before daylight, the hen most likely won't notice, but if she can see it, that's a danger.

Looks are probably most of it if it doesn't peep incessantly or do something else that annoys her. I've had one bad new mama that killed all the chicks she hatched but one, regardless of what they looked like. I didn't give her another chance; she got rehomed. She was competing with another broody hen, so hopefully she did better after not being in competition.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Anytime that you stagger hatch a chick or a clutch of chicks you are playing Russian Roulette with the life of all your chicks. Chicks imprint on the first large moving object they see post hatching and hens likewise imprint on their nest location and on their chicks. The danger is that the hen will hatch off her clutch and leave the nest with her first babies and refuse to recognise any late to hatch chicks as her own flesh and blood. One reason that domestic chickens successfully made the leap from wild-fowl to domestic fowl is the hens' proclivity to kill or murder any chicks that she sees as a threat to what she perceives as her own chicks.

Study, Learn, and Understand every action and Ethos of your chickens. They are fascinating creatures not because of their resemblance to the so called Human race, but because chickens thankfully share so little of the so called human "Morality".

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Definitely get it a mate. Chickens are social creatures and it needs to be with a mate.

 

[ChuSayBok]

Anytime that you stagger hatch a chick or a clutch of chicks you are playing Russian Roulette with the life of all your chicks. Chicks imprint on the first large moving object they see post hatching and hens likewise imprint on their nest location and on their chicks. The danger is that the hen will hatch off her clutch and leave the nest with her first babies and refuse to recognise any late to hatch chicks as her own flesh and blood. One reason that domestic chickens successfully made the leap from wild-fowl to domestic fowl is the hens' proclivity to kill or murder any chicks that she sees as a threat to what she perceives as her own chicks...

While I would partly agree with this, circumstances have forced me to interfere on occasions, and I've found that most new chicks will be happy with any mother that will keep them warm and safe, especially if their "birth" mother is trying to peck their eyeballs out. I've had a 2 week old feed store chick take up with a new mother and the mother accept it. I had one chick that went between 2 different mothers that were both hatching at the same time and it was one of the most well adjusted of any in the coop; this chick was larger than any of its brood mates and yet it wasn't aggressive toward the smaller ones. I've never had any hen leave her first babies or any others that hatched under her (even if they were placed there late because another hen abandoned them.) The only hen I've had that was a crappy mother was the one that did kill her babies, and she was the exception. I'm sure this varies due to circumstances and personalities, but I've witnessed a lot more wiggle room in chicken politics than just straight up initial imprinting. I think wild birds imprint a lot stronger, and probably ducks, etc.. but I don't have much experience with that. I have experienced chickens, and their loyalties can be quite subject to change. With that being said, other hens (especially that are not mothers) can be extremely hostile and I almost lost a chick to another hen who to date has never gone broody.

With all that said, how's Marble and the rest of your chu?

 

[gimmie birdies]

once I had 4 little chicks I kept in the house until about 3-4 weeks old. when they were ready to go out to the coop, I put them in a separate area with a mom. Mom was happy to get the babies, babies were happy to have mom.

Some times I bring a broody bantam in the house in the evening and put her with chicks in a dark sleepy box then when I want to put them together out side they know eachother.
I currently have one egg that is due on the 11th, and some due on the 16th. I will put in mirrors, and that chick will have to bear it till the other eggs hatch.