how do introduce a new chick

[skeeter03]

I have a chick about 3 weeks old in the house - mama left it as an egg in the nest I threw it in the bator and voila two weeks later I had a baby. lol
it wasnt the greatest hatch it ended up loosing its yolk sac but somehow it managed to survive. had to wait for its crusty injured belly button to heal before i attempted to put it with the others.
I have tried putting it in with the mama and her babies but they just peck the poor little thing to bits. I have an injured bird in a big dog kennel but she pecks it to lol
and besides that it fits through the kennel and can escape to the outside world.
what would be the best way to introduce this guy to the rest of my flock - he is almost to big for the brooder i have made for him in the house and i would like it out with the others within the next couple of weeks.
HELP!!!

 

[ducks4you]

I'm not an expert on introducing birds to a flock, though I did introduce my 2 year old hen, to the 7 member flock that was about 7 months old. I made sure that I was introducing large birds to large birds, and that helped a lot since they were pretty much the same size. Also, it was 8 birds being put into a 12 x 16ft. enclosed area--a horse stall for the winter. They did peck her and pick on her, but the area was large enough that they didn't kill her, and it didn't take very long before they became a flock.
I would keep your youngin' segregated--she/he can become your pet--and wait until the chick is much larger. These birds don't operate like mammals--a female dog who has had puppies might adopt a puppy, a mare who has had foals might adopt an orphan foal--you get the picture.
When you are ready, introduce one bird at a time to your chick and let them become their own flock. Then introduce another over a period of several weeks. The new chick and his/her new friends can become the new flock, to which the originals are the new introductions. Hope this helps.

Anybody else...?

 

[Neilette]

Umm... I would try penning the chick in the run so that the birds can socialize but so that violence is not an option. Probably until they all happily ignored each other.