- Dec 28, 2014
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Hi,
I'm new to this site. I keep chickens as pets in an enclosed orchard in South Australia. As I'm a vegetarian the chickens don't ever end up in the pot and I'm happy for them to live out their natural lifespan once they stop laying.
My current issue is that I've recently had two hens sitting on their eggs and yesterday I found a day-old baby chick crouched in the main chicken run with an injury to it's neck. I had thought the red hen had abandoned her eggs as I hadn't seen her on them for a while, so I thought it must be the Silky hen's chick who had strayed from the nest in the adjacent enclosure. This hen looked askance at the chick but allowed her to cuddle up. I later noticed the red hen back on her eggs with a broken eggshell next to her. I then checked the Silky Hen's eggs - no eggshells. So today I moved the red hen into the hutch with the Silky hen where I protect expectant hens and their chicks, so her chicks wouldn't be attacked by the other hens when they hatched.
Later today the Red Hen hatched another chick but unfortunately the little injured chick got into strife twice: first I found it out in the run wandering around with its eyes closed and returned it to the Red Hen, then this afternoon I found the Silky Hen's chicks (4 and 3 day olds) pecking at the injured chick's wound.
I've brought the chick inside but I don't have a breeding box and light. The chick takes drinks of water but only at tiny bit of chick mix. It's opened its eyes since coming inside. As it didn't want to stay in a basket with hay and kept climbing onto my hand I've now popped it in a little drawstring bag and tucked it inside my cleavage, which is seems to like as it's settling and has stopped its constant cheeping.
Can anyone tell me what to do from here? The chick doesn't have any broken bones and is steady on its feet. It seems like a little toughie, so I'm hoping it will survive.
Steb
I'm new to this site. I keep chickens as pets in an enclosed orchard in South Australia. As I'm a vegetarian the chickens don't ever end up in the pot and I'm happy for them to live out their natural lifespan once they stop laying.
My current issue is that I've recently had two hens sitting on their eggs and yesterday I found a day-old baby chick crouched in the main chicken run with an injury to it's neck. I had thought the red hen had abandoned her eggs as I hadn't seen her on them for a while, so I thought it must be the Silky hen's chick who had strayed from the nest in the adjacent enclosure. This hen looked askance at the chick but allowed her to cuddle up. I later noticed the red hen back on her eggs with a broken eggshell next to her. I then checked the Silky Hen's eggs - no eggshells. So today I moved the red hen into the hutch with the Silky hen where I protect expectant hens and their chicks, so her chicks wouldn't be attacked by the other hens when they hatched.
Later today the Red Hen hatched another chick but unfortunately the little injured chick got into strife twice: first I found it out in the run wandering around with its eyes closed and returned it to the Red Hen, then this afternoon I found the Silky Hen's chicks (4 and 3 day olds) pecking at the injured chick's wound.
I've brought the chick inside but I don't have a breeding box and light. The chick takes drinks of water but only at tiny bit of chick mix. It's opened its eyes since coming inside. As it didn't want to stay in a basket with hay and kept climbing onto my hand I've now popped it in a little drawstring bag and tucked it inside my cleavage, which is seems to like as it's settling and has stopped its constant cheeping.
Can anyone tell me what to do from here? The chick doesn't have any broken bones and is steady on its feet. It seems like a little toughie, so I'm hoping it will survive.
Steb
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