We don't have chickens or the ability to keep them in our backyard, but we have a farmer friend who has a flock. My husband found a baby chick this weekend, the assumption is that with the heat wave we've been having, an egg laid in a random place was warm enough to hatch. The farmer doesn't have the space or time to hand-raise a baby chick (his hens do it for him!) and his hens wouldn't let the baby stay with their older chicks, so my husband brought it home to raise and our farmer friend will take it (them!) when old enough to join the flock. We've not done this before, but he spent summers on his grandparents' farm and has watched his grandma raise many batches.
We know that chickens are flock animals and that a single chick doesn't do well, so we went to find him some friends. We were only able to find chicks that were about 2 weeks older. They're about 2-2.5 times the size and have their end wing feathers, but the rest is still downy. We've kept a close eye and they seem to be getting along ok. The little one follows the larger ones around everywhere, but they don't seem to mind her. Anything specific we should be watching for given the age difference?
And any other advice for first time chick raisers who didn't have any time to plan ahead? We made a 3'x4' pen of plywood in the house with a wire "lid" inside, and we will be building a 4'x6' covered outside pen for when they are a little older and can spend some time outside. The temperature thing was a little tricky given the age difference, but given the size of the pen, there's plenty of room for the older chicks to be a bit farther from the heat and the little one can be right under it. We haven't heard much loud chirping, mostly just what we think are normal sounds, so we think everyone is happy. The few times we've heard loud chirping, it ended before we get in there to see what/why. The little one especially seems to just be a chatty little thing.
We know that chickens are flock animals and that a single chick doesn't do well, so we went to find him some friends. We were only able to find chicks that were about 2 weeks older. They're about 2-2.5 times the size and have their end wing feathers, but the rest is still downy. We've kept a close eye and they seem to be getting along ok. The little one follows the larger ones around everywhere, but they don't seem to mind her. Anything specific we should be watching for given the age difference?
And any other advice for first time chick raisers who didn't have any time to plan ahead? We made a 3'x4' pen of plywood in the house with a wire "lid" inside, and we will be building a 4'x6' covered outside pen for when they are a little older and can spend some time outside. The temperature thing was a little tricky given the age difference, but given the size of the pen, there's plenty of room for the older chicks to be a bit farther from the heat and the little one can be right under it. We haven't heard much loud chirping, mostly just what we think are normal sounds, so we think everyone is happy. The few times we've heard loud chirping, it ended before we get in there to see what/why. The little one especially seems to just be a chatty little thing.
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