Can I Raise One Chick?

[Maddyluvschickens]

She was so special, I could pick her up whenever I wanted to, she would follow me wherever I went, she would even come up on my lap and perch on my arm. When I would walk out the door to outside And called her she would come running up to me.

 

[Maddyluvschickens]

These are pictures of Hazel

 

[Blooie]

I'm sorry you lost your Hazel. Having been through that when I lost my first chicken, Pearly-girl, I can sure understand where your heart is going as far as adding a new one. But may I gently remind you that you could buy 200 chickens and never get another one that gives you what you had with Hazel, or buy just that one and get one that is almost identical? It's hard when you set high expectations on one animal of any kind to "replace" another and it doesn't work out. I know, that sounds harsh, and I don't mean it to, but it's a crap shoot.

You can, of course, buy one chick and raise it, but believe it or not it's actually harder to care for and integrate a single chick into an existing flock, even a small flock. So you should be prepared for that. Also getting one chick sounds logical, but if you only get one and that one dies within the first couple of weeks or so - and chicks are very inventive about ways to do to themselves in - then what? I raised a single chick, and did it successfully with a lot of help from BYC and another special forum I belonged to, but he started out in the coop as a broody hatched chick, was injured and had to be brought indoors to recover for a couple of weeks. We got him right back outside with the flock, but by then our temps were sub-zero and after so long without him his mom didn't resume her duties. You can read Scout's story here and see photos of how he was raised and reintegrated back into the flock:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/frostbitten-feet-the-adventures-of-scout.67277/

Whatever you decide to do, you can always come to BYC for answers to questions as they come up.

 

[Maddyluvschickens]

Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

If you are looking to get just one chicken, then look for one you can introduce to yours. I had to go through all the extra work raising the single chick, and introducing a single. Once after the chick was able to generate her own temperature, things did get easier. Then after letting her stay with the adults I had to be there to stop fights. Over a few weeks they learned to tolerate each other, and now the new chick is able to roost on their favorite stick.

A thing about the stick is they like the spot in the cage. Even when I removed the stick, they still roosted in that spot on the ground even in rain and snow. So the new chick being allowed to sleep there at night is a good sign.

So keep in mind raising a chick separate from the adults requires more work and you're going to have to monitor them all day and in the evening after introduction.

 

[Maddyluvschickens]

Ok, thank you so much for the information.