Can a hen raise one chick?

[Annalyse]

My hens are young. I was wondering if my silkie can raise one chick. There 5-6 months all 6 including my rooster. I want another silkie and was wondering if when my silkie turns broody and wants babies if I can put the chick under her when it's time and then switch them to a portable play on and wait until the chick is a certain age. And then she would raise one. Sorry this is hard to explain. Can someone just explain what I should do lol

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

I would never recommend to raise one chick for various, various reasons. Your birds are still young so I wouldn't bet on them going broody but being silkies who knows

Are you wanting to hatch your own eggs? You said to put a chick under her, do you mean to buy chicks to put under a broody? And I didn't really understand the last part but usually when you have a broody and some chicks you'll section off a part of the coop for her to get them started (usually a few days to a week) and then you'll open it up once all chicks are eating, drinking, mobile and healthy : )

edit: also just something I have noticed and would suggest, let the highest ranked ladies raise babies/go broody. I find when chickens lower on the pecking order try to raise chicks the other members of the flock can be really mean to not only the mom but also the chicks. Whereas when I'd let my higher ranked ladies hatch the chicks wouldn't be messed with since momma is respected by all of or nearly all of the flock

 

[Annalyse]

I would never recommend to raise one chick for various, various reasons. Your birds are still young so I wouldn't bet on them going broody but being silkies who knows

Are you wanting to hatch your own eggs? You said to put a chick under her, do you mean to buy chicks to put under a broody? And I didn't really understand the last part but usually when you have a broody and some chicks you'll section off a part of the coop for her to get them started (usually a few days to a week) and then you'll open it up once all chicks are eating, drinking, mobile and healthy : )

Okay so obviously there young. I'm going to wait a few years until I'm ready to add one more to my flock. My silkie gets bullied and were making the run much bigger than it is to help them calm down bullying eachother and someone recommended to get more silkies but shes older than the ones I can get so I was thinking letting her raise one. No I'm not going to hatch the eggs bc i have an aggresive rooster and dont want those Gene's in and plus he doesnt mate her bc he doesnt like her I guess. I was going to buy a baby silkie and slide it under her and hopefully she takes it if not I'll raise it myself. And the separation thing I already have dow so I wont explain that bc its confusing lol but hopefully this answers most of your questions.

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Ohhh I thought you had a flock of all silkies, okay I get it now! Silkies tend to get bullied by 'normal' birds, I could make guesses as to why but it's just a trend I've sadly noticed :'( If you're adding a companion to stop bullying I don't think a few years from now would be in her best interest, although I can't really suggest a perfect solve-all solution either... I would be worried about then having two bullied birds, but who knows if that would happen since it's all theoretical right now : )

I still wouldn't reccomend raising a single chick, even if you just buy 3-4 chicks and sell the ones you don't want after they've grown and fully weaned (and preferably are sexed!). I would be worried though with your silkie being on what I can assume is the bottom of the pecking order, my lower pecking order hens tend to get extra bullied when broody (enough where we have to step in and break their broodiness so they don't get injuries) I would also suggest re-homing an aggressive rooster, aggressive to chickens and/or humans is never good in my opinion, it took us a while to find the right rooster but in my personal opinion/experience I like the boys who are 'professional about their job' and 'gentlemanly'. This usually doesn't go hand in hand with 'hand-tame' and 'friendly' unfortunately as I've learned the hard way (hand-tame usually leads to aggressive) but I find a gentleman rooster who gets his job done, keeps a flock safe and respects his keeper and ladies, is the best rooster

 

[Annalyse]

Ohhh I thought you had a flock of all silkies, okay I get it now! Silkies tend to get bullied by 'normal' birds, I could make guesses as to why but it's just a trend I've sadly noticed :'( If you're adding a companion to stop bullying I don't think a few years from now would be in her best interest, although I can't really suggest a perfect solve-all solution either... I would be worried about then having two bullied birds, but who knows if that would happen since it's all theoretical right now : )

I still wouldn't reccomend raising a single chick, even if you just buy 3-4 chicks and sell the ones you don't want after they've grown and fully weaned (and preferably are sexed!). I would be worried though with your silkie being on what I can assume is the bottom of the pecking order, my lower pecking order hens tend to get extra bullied when broody (enough where we have to step in and break their broodiness so they don't get injuries) I would also suggest re-homing an aggressive rooster, aggressive to chickens and/or humans is never good in my opinion, it took us a while to find the right rooster but in my personal opinion/experience I like the boys who are 'professional about their job' and 'gentlemanly'. This usually doesn't go hand in hand with 'hand-tame' and 'friendly' unfortunately as I've learned the hard way (hand-tame usually leads to aggressive) but I find a gentleman rooster who gets his job done, keeps a flock safe and respects his keeper and ladies, is the best rooster

I agree with the silkie thing and everything. My rooster is aggresive but has gotten a little better since we've been training and calming him a little. He is respectful towards his girls and keeps them safe. He is respectful towards me but not to the point where I can pick him up again. He knows i bring the food and i have a "stick" thing that when he jump attacks me i pull that out and he knows hes in trouble and runs away. He knows what happens if he is mean. He is aggressive towards others family members bc he doesnt trust them around the flock and I understand that. But you can see why I dont wanna hatch babies from him. I've also wanted another silkie and was supposed to get 4 chickens at first but ended up with a mix of 7 and ended up with a roasted who I love but it's hard to get rid of him cause i know he will get killed the way he is. But sorry back to the silkie thing yes I agree with those and I'm trying to figer out something

 

[Sonya9]

Like North West already said, you never want to hatch or add just one lone chick. Also chickens have to go broody (sit on eggs) for about 3 weeks before they will accept chicks.

If your silkie goes broody next spring/summer you could let her sit for 3 weeks on dud eggs and then buy very young (under 5 days old) silkie chicks and give them to her to raise. Just do lots of research first.

 

[Annalyse]

TE="Sonya9, post: 23058991, member: 258531"]
Like North West already said, you never want to hatch or add just one lone chick. Also chickens have to go broody (sit on eggs) for about 3 weeks before they will accept chicks.

If your silkie goes broody next spring/summer you could let her sit for 3 weeks on dud eggs and then buy very young (under 5 days old) silkie chicks and give them to her to raise. Just do lots of research first.
[/QUOTE]
I definetly will and I probally wont let her have chicks until a couple years cause she is still very tiny and I want her to grow a little. Yes ik she is a tiny breed lol

 

[birdlover2]

Some say the aggressive gene passes down from an aggressive rooster, others say it's just a myth. I don't have enough experiance to know, but you may want to do some research or ask around to see if that's the case. Even if it is the case there's exceptions to every rule, and you may want to try out hatching eggs of his and rehoming the roos, or perhaps if it does turn out to be a myth you'd find a better roo in one of his offspring. Your roo doesn't sound too bad, but attacking of anyone unprovoked anyways could be considered a problem, and if you're afraid to breed him to the point of wanting to buy a chick just to avoid passing on his genes, you may be better off getting rid of him, because that's one of the perks of having a roo. There's plenty of roos that are given away all the time, you wouldn't have much of a problem finding one. You may also want to start a just silkie flock if you want to get more silkies and they're often bullied by other chickens.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have had 1 chick raised by a broody, and I won't ever do it again! That poor chicken is so far down the pecking order and, frankly, a little neurotic. I feel guilty EVERY DAY because I should gave gotten at least one more. Don't make that mistake, too.

Also, I have a VERY mixed flock (1 Barred Rock, 1 Orp, 1 Brahma, 1 Welsummer, 1 Cochin, 1 Australorp, 1 Golden Comet, 1 Sebright rooster, and 2 Silkies). The Silkies do not get bullied. They are not anywhere near the bottom of the pecking order (my poor Wellie who was raised solo is). In fact, they seem to operate completely outside of the world of chicken politics; they do what they want, when they want, and no one can stop them! BUT that may be because my flock is so mixed OR because my one little rooster was raised with and is very bonded with them. Just thought I'd throw my experience with Silkies into the convo to give a different perspective. All flocks are different, and all birds are individuals.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have had 1 chick raised by a broody, and I won't ever do it again! That poor chicken is so far down the pecking order and, frankly, a little neurotic. I feel guilty EVERY DAY because I should gave gotten at least one more. Don't make that mistake, too.

Also, I have a VERY mixed flock (1 Barred Rock, 1 Orp, 1 Brahma, 1 Welsummer, 1 Cochin, 1 Australorp, 1 Golden Comet, 1 Sebright rooster, and 2 Silkies). The Silkies do not get bullied. They are not anywhere near the bottom of the pecking order (my poor Wellie who was raised solo is). In fact, they seem to operate completely outside of the world of chicken politics; they do what they want, when they want, and no one can stop them! BUT that may be because my flock is so mixed OR because my one little rooster was raised with and is very bonded with them. Just thought I'd throw my experience with Silkies into the convo to give a different perspective. All flocks are different, and all birds are individuals.

And my Silkies are broody all the friggin time. Imma give them chicks next spring. I'm thinking 3. They are always in the same nesting box, so I may let them sort out whose are whose. And they won't be bantams, either. Imma give them big birds to raise - lol!