Found a baby chick and need advice

Is this chick a pullet or rooster?

  • Pullet

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Rooster

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1
  • Poll closed .

Christina_benitez1

In the Brooder
Oct 16, 2019
5
20
26
View attachment 1936434 So I found an orphaned baby chick and brought it home with me to raise as a backyard chicken (hopefully). I’ve never had one and am feeding it chick starter (bought on amazon) and offering him/her lettuce. The chick has a heating pad to keep him/her warm. I want to know if anyone here can tell if it’s a boy or girl? Also can anyone tell me what type of chicken he/she is? Any tips help. I live in a city, & I don’t have farm stores near me but am willing to buy supplies on amazon.

He/she follows me everywhere
He/she loves flying.
 

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Last edited:
Much too early to tell.
Stick with the chick starter only. Especially at that age. If you feed anything else, like lettuce, it will also need some chick grit so it is best not to feed anything but starter. That is a complete feed. Adding other things may deplete the complete nutrients in the feed. And like I said, it will need to eat grit. Chick grit till about 5 weeks and then graduate to #2 grit till about 8 weeks then adult grit.
Where did you find it.

Another bit of advice, chickens are flock animals and need chicken friends. I highly recommend you get one or two more chicks near the same age.
 
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I would just feed it the chick starter and not the lettuce. Not sure if it needs grit with lettuce.

BTW, chickens are very social creatures. If it's at all possible, you should get her some flock mates. I don't believe any feed stores have them anymore, but you can order them from Meyer Hatchery or Murray McMurray. Or maybe from a neighbor?

Do you have a coop yet? You will need one sooner than you think. Most prefabs are so poor quality that you'll be replacing them in a couple years. Plus they always say they can accommodate 2 or 3 times more chickens than they can.

Welcome to BYC! And good luck with that adorable little chick!!!
 
to young to tell I'd say it's about 1-2 weeks old but legs at this age would guess pullet. Thinking with the yellow legs maybe a leghorn, other possibilities as not familiar with them might be white Plymouth rock or a cross of something too.

It probably belongs to one of your neighbors, at that age moms don't usually take em to far from home and the flock.
Should only be getting chick starter and water, nothing else right now
 
It’s too young to sex. Breed could be mostly anything at this point. For breed and sex ID it’s best to post back in about 7 weeks, as this chick is only about 5 or 6 days old. You should also look into getting it some friends and if you can’t, possibly giving to someone that can? Chickens are flock animals and can become depressed when kept alone. Chicks are especially prone as it will start peeping when you leave it alone, so you’ll need to keep it with you 24/7. I would also consider further things like a coop, run and if you can keep chickens where you live. If you live in a town or city, you usually can’t keep cockerels/roosters, so you’d have to rehome him if he turns out to be one.

By the way, welcome to BYC :welcome You’ll find lots of nice people and plenty of information on everything poultry related :)
 
It’s too young to sex. Breed could be mostly anything at this point. For breed and sex ID it’s best to post back in about 7 weeks, as this chick is only about 5 or 6 days old. You should also look into getting it some friends and if you can’t, possibly giving to someone that can? Chickens are flock animals and can become depressed when kept alone. Chicks are especially prone as it will start peeping when you leave it alone, so you’ll need to keep it with you 24/7. I would also consider further things like a coop, run and if you can keep chickens where you live. If you live in a town or city, you usually can’t keep cockerels/roosters, so you’d have to rehome him if he turns out to be one.

By the way, welcome to BYC :welcome You’ll find lots of nice people and plenty of information on everything poultry related :)

Yep I got 6 almost 3 weeks old in a brooder in the back bedroom, they broke outta there to come find me as they've decided they are scared of the dark lol and even though they aren't alone, still want me with them as they hatched in incubator instead of with a broody
 
Much too early to tell.
Stick with the chick starter only. Especially at that age. If you feed anything else, like lettuce, it will also need some chick grit so it is best not to feed anything but starter. That is a complete feed. Adding other things may deplete the complete nutrients in the feed. And like I said, it will need to eat grit. Chick grit till about 5 weeks and then graduate to #2 grit till about 8 weeks than adult grit.
Where did you find it.

Another bit of advice, chickens are flock animals and need chicken friends. I highly recommend you get one or two more chicks near the same age.
I found it on the street. It was really weird because I live in a city. I think it was abandoned by someone. I will not be giving it more lettuce per your advice. Thanks for your input!
 
It likely ran away from home. I've had chicks get startled and run off and can't find their way home because they haven't yet imprinted on and oriented them to their surroundings.

I would probably go door to door in the immediate vicinity of where you found it to see if anyone is missing one. It couldn't have wandered far. I'm sure they would be grateful.
I know it is cute, but you are taking on a lot of responsibility if you plan on keeping it. You'll need more chickens and an appropriate coop long before you realize it. They grow very fast.
You could probably just walk your neighborhood and look for coops in backyards.
 

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