Had an incubated egg hatch on January 2. The chick is 5 weeks old. She/he is completely feathered. She has never seen another chicken. I have a flock of 20, plus a rooster. I have one very broody hen - has been sitting on her nest for 3 or 4 months now. Although I am in North Carolina and it will be in the 60s tomorrow, it will be very cold again next week. I have an indoor coop and an outdoor area. The whole flock sleeps outside on a high roost. How can I introduce this chick to the flock and should I even attempt it until it gets warmer? Should I try to put her with the broody hen? Will she mother it? She sat on it until it starting pipping and I could hear her chirping. 4 other attempts at letting this hen incubate had ended in disaster, so I took this one in for a day and it hatched inside. Has had the run of my guest room and now guest shower for 5 weeks. Hubby is ready to move her out!
If she's fully feathered out than there's not much to worry about the weather (no more than any other chicken and by the sounds of the weather it sounds actually pretty warm) I would be more concerned about her size compared to other chickens because some of them might meet her with aggression. And if that one chicken is a disaster with hatching chicks she might not be the best for a chick.
May I suggest possibly keeping her in for another 2 weeks and then keep her in a large cage in the coop. that way she will get to know the others and have time to catch up on size. I would really worry about her safety while she's still so little. I would also suggest breaking that broody. Brooding is hard enough on a hen for just 1 month. If she's no good at hatching and mothering then there is no point in letting her be broody. I worry for her health/body condition. use the search bar at the top of this site to look up broody hens, broody hens and their health and how to break a broody. Good luck! Keep asking questions!
X2 on the above posters. I would not introduce her untill she is fully grown. She could easily get picked on and it end in disaster. Keeping her sperate but so she can see the others is a better option. Everyone gets aquainted but with out the fights and scuffles. Wishing you the very best of luck.
Thank you so much! Great ideas - and I really didn't realize that broodiness was detrimental. My broody hen is deliriously happy - loves attention and sitting. Just thought I was being kind to her by letting her do what made her happy!
Back when the chick was a few days old you could have given it to the broody and she would have been even happier to have a chick.
I got 8 chicks for Valentine's day and was concerned about putting them in with my grown hens. I put them out in the pen with a wire fence divider. Well one of the chicks was small enough to fit through the wire and ran over to the big girls and nothing happened! Then I let them mingle the next day and on the third day took down the divider and they have gotten along fine. I waited until they were fully feathered. Here's a photo of them on their first day outside for a visit. The little chicks pretty much keep together and they do have a place to go to get away from the big girls in case they need to. I have a broody Wyandotte but she wasn't interested in the chicks at all. below is what the chicks look like now at 5-6 weeks old the white ones are White Rocks and the others are Buff Orpingtons
You are lucky. I had the exact same thing happen to me as far as the chick getting in with the big girls. The difference is that one of my GC tried to terrorize it.. I could hear her cries from in the house.. The other 4 GC seemed to be okay with her.. Just that one did not like the idea of that 6 and 1/2 week old barred rock in her territory. I had to run out there and save her.. It would have been bad if I was gone..