Hi from South Africa

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Stoffel

Stoffel

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 6, 2014
2
0
7
I've been a chicken owner for a while, but I'm new here. I haven't really had huge problems with my chickens so far, but I need some help with a chick whose mom decided she was old enough to fend for herself now. She's about a month old and she has no siblings (she had 2, but both unfortunately died :'(.) She followed me into the house when I got home and I put her into a box for the night since I don't really want to put her into a coop with the others and leave her to fend for herself. She seems to be all alone in the world now. I tried to introduce her to an older (teenager I'd say) hand reared chick who is also alone. It didn't work out. The older girl attacked her and pecked her, even though she seemed to want to make friends. Now I don't know what to do. I am going to be away from home tomorrow for the entire day. I don't know if I should let her stay in the house or outside. I don't want her to be lonely, but I also don't want the other chickens to bully or something to catch her. What can I do?
 
Set up a little brooder box for her and see if you can find someone with chicks the same age so she can have some flockmates until she's big enough to put out in the main coop?

Also, welcome! I dated a guy from Johannesburg when I was in grad school and I've always been sorry I never got the chance to visit his family there.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Sorry about your bird. It is always best to introduce more than one bird at a time to a flock so one is not singled out and bullied, but it can be done.

One month old is way too young to be within an adult flock. So you need to give her time to grow a bit. She is way too tiny to defend herself. She needs to be at least 3 months old before you can safely mix her in.

Put her in a large cage or enclosure within the flock. Keep her in the run or coop, but around the flock at all times. Everybody sees her, nobody touches her. Leave her there for 8 weeks. You can get her out by herself for some free ranging and such, but don't mix her into the flock yet. Those peck and play enclosures work wonderful to work chicks into the flock. I used one to mix my chicks in this year and it worked wonderful! I also used a wire dog crate with roost bar in the coop for them to sleep in as the older hens roosted on their bar.

After about two months, you can try mixing her in. The flock should have gotten to know her enough that there is not as much aggression. Make sure to put out extra food and water stations so she can get food and water. The older birds are going to guard these areas and starve her out. Leave the cage set up too so she can seek refuge from the bigger birds. Set up ladders and high places she can escape the bigger birds.

It takes about a month or more for chicks to get worked into the flock after she is within the flock, but if you do this cage method, it will be much easier for her.

Good luck with this baby and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

Sorry to hear about your birds! TwoCrows has given good advice.
 
Welcome to BYC!

You will find a lot of good information here. Keep on asking questions and you will get many good answers.

You may also want to read the FAQ below.
 
Thank you so much everyone :) I'll put her in a brooder box today as you suggested, HighStreetCoop. I hope you do get to visit SA sometime :) I'll try the enclosure thing tomorrow, TwoCrows. Thank you for the advice!
 
Chickens are flock animals so even being in a crate for her safety you will feel she is part of the group. Welcome to Backyard chickens.
 

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