I found a baby chick in my coop!

[guineapeeps]

two hens jump off the roost when i go in.... should I leave him with some bedding and food and water down there?

Unless you have a heat lamp on him, I would not leave him down on the floor of the coop by himself. If no hen is sitting on him to keep him warm, he will get too cold and die. Do you have an area you could keep him in with a heat lamp or higher watt light bulb? It is strange that a few of the hens jump up when you come In....you may want to go out with a flash flight and investigate your hen’s nests to see if you can locate where it came from and make sure there are no other little ones hidden somewhere!

 

[karenmontana]

yes, i set up a MHP and have layer crumble, water, and I'm scrambling an egg for him... till i can get to the feed store tomorrow.... I'll check around for a nest....
I left them all alone for about 15 minutes just now to see if the hens would come down and they didn't.....

 

[karenmontana]

Oh good idea!! I'll see if I can set it all up in the coop.....

 

[karenmontana]

if there is a mamma in the morning, then what? will i assume she'll keep him warm? do i just put food and water down where he is and he'll know how to feed himself?

 

[pennyJo1960]

I actually would aim his little beak to the food and water just touching both

 

[sannabelle]

When out looking to see where he might've hatched look from egg shell fragments from the egg he hatched from. None of your hens have been MIA recently? If you do leave him in there overnight get out as early as you can in the AM- it would be awful if the adult hens ganged up on the little one when they got off their roosts.

 

[karenmontana]

ok.... now i do remember not seeing one of my Dominiques..... AND when we went out there to put the chick in the MHP one of the Dominique hens puffed out her neck feathers huge..... but she hasn't come down at all for the baby.... I'll check on him before bed and again at 5 AM

 

[sannabelle]

Sometimes mama hens don't realize that their chicks can't follow them everywhere they want to go. If you find out that she is indeed the mama, consider penning them together for awhile- I put my broody mama hens in a wire dog crate with their chicks, with food and water inside the crate. That way the chicks have their mamas to keep them warm, and mom can't get up too high for the chicks to go

 

[karenmontana]

thank you!!!
I'll check in tomorrow and let you all know if a momma stakes her claim!

 

[BYCforlife]

Lucky you. My driveway is 2 kilometres long and I have a vehicle alert. Nobody can sneak chicks into my coop!