How to deal with a single chick?

[hucker]

I typed that into google and definitely did not learn much about chickens!

We incubated a batch of eggs and only ended up with a single chick, an nice little bantam. How do we deal with this? He's about a month old now and has a warm spot next to the run for the rest of the birds. Obviously they are separated. Is this OK? Any tips or thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

This happened to me too, but I ended up finding two chicks to be with my loner when she was just a day old, so I didn't have to deal with putting a loner into an established flock. Make sure that the single chick is plenty big enough to defend his/herself when you introduce them, and make sure it is supervised!! Good luck!!

 

[The Sheriff]

Put a feather duster or plush toy in the brooder with him so he can snuggle up to it. The feather duster seems to be most lifelike. There is a video somewhere showing a chick snuggling under the feathers like it's his mama. Too cute. Also put a mirror in so he thinks he has a friend in there.

Good luck. They are noisy. You might put an ad on Craigslist to see if anyone close by has a chick you can buy.

Mary

 

[adkchickmama]

Hucker, This happened to us. Two broody hens with 6 eggs each and only 1 baby hatched. hmmm. anyhow he stayed with mama until he ripped his leg open on some fencing. We brought him into the house and doctored him for a week . Then found his mom wouldn't take him back. I kept him in the broody pen alone and gave him lots of extra attention. he was housed in the same pen but seperate so he could still see the others and they could see him but not pick on him. He is 3 months old now and I just finally got him mingled with the rest of the big girls during the day. He is big enough to take care of himself now. They still chase him once in a while but he pretty much holds his own. I still put him in his own area at night though. He has become very attached to myself and my DH. would rather hang with us when we are out. I hope he stays nice. We didn't realize she was a HE until we had him inside with the leg issue and he CROWED. Oh boy... Wasn't planning on having a roo but he is a sweetie for now. If I had it to do over I would have tried to find at least one other chick for company for him. But if you can't get her a friend, just know that they can survive. Good luck with your baby.

 

[Jess N Jeff]

You will find out that this has happend to a lot of us. Hatches don't always go as planned. When it happened to me I also used the feather duster as a make believe mommy...worked great. I also held her a lot. She is my lap warmer chicken now. She is all grown up andwhen I introduced her to the flock it was easy because they saw her on the other side of the fence from when she was a baby chicky. Just about every day I would let her run around in the grass and the other chickens and ducks would see her. We had such an easy introduction because to the constant somewhat close interaction.

Good luck!!!

 

[bufforp89]

I would try and find a friend for it. I had one Guinea keet that I raised and he is about 5 months old now and a huge pain. He constantly wants to be with people and is always trying to follow me into the house/car, to the mailbox, down the road ect. Hes not happy being with other birds and is scared silly of them.

 

[b.hromada]

I just had my "one and only" hatch now. I was looking on Ebay, and heard its sweet little cheep! I candled the eggs, and knew only one was fertile. My daughter has a small stuffed animal to put in with it. Maybe I will get the feather duster too. I feel bad for the sweet little thing.