Introducing a single 2 week old chick to four hatchlings

[Corn Thrower]

Hi all,

I live in Hawaii where feral chickens are common, and have several neighborhood chickens who frequent my yard. The hens seem to prefer to nest closer to human dwellings, where they are safer from mongoose (a local predator of baby chicks). We had a hen sitting some eggs in a corner of the yard, but she was booted by another hen with chicks that liked her spot. The eggs were eventually abandoned by the mother, although it seems the hen who took over may have kept at least one egg warm because this morning a single chick hatched, alone. I brought the chick inside and warmed her up with a hot water bottle in a towel nest. The chick eats and drinks from our hands, has no fear of myself or my daughter, and peeps distressfully if we put her down (even in a nice warm cardboard box). Luckily, we like holding her and the chick seems happy in our hands. (For what its worth, I did offer the chick to both wild hens -the actual mother and the hen who took over her nest- and neither showed interest.) So, now we have a cute new pet! We bought her a mirror, a feather duster, and a small squeaky stuffed mouse to keep her company as well. Still working on a name

We are due to receive an order of 4 baby chicks (golden sex link females) on July 15th (14 days from today), and already have a big bag of grower crumbles. We have some other supplies ordered and on the way. We have kept adult chickens before some years ago, but this will be our first round raising baby chicks ourselves.

What's the best way to introduce this feral baby chick, who will be 2 weeks old when our other babies arrive, to the rest of her new flock? I want to avoid bullying of course, but I know this single baby chick would like company. Does it matter if this baby chick turns out to be a rooster? Can I vaccinate this baby chick myself? Our other babies are arriving vaccinated. Are there any other medicines the feral chick might need?

Is this a totally crazy idea? Does the feral chick need to be returned to the wild when she is old enough?

Thank you for any and all suggestions!

 

[Stipenvlerk]

I would introduce them to each other as soon as possible. Probably they bond really quick since they are so tiny.
at first you would put them in the same brooder together with a see trough panel and only allow supervised Visits if you see they go along well you have yourself 1 flock with a little bit of age difference

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I would introduce them to each other as soon as possible. Probably they bond really quick since they are so tiny.
at first you would put them in the same brooder together with a see trough panel and only allow supervised Visits if you see they go along well you have yourself 1 flock with a little bit of age difference

I totally agree. Who knows. Your feral chicks mom might have actually been vaccinated herself and could have passed on some antibodies to him or her for some things. It maybe healthier than you would think. Just give it a head start by feeding it what you already have there and it may do very well. Where I live it’s hard to get Vets to see chickens but you may have better luck where you live. Can you have her seen by a Vet? Is she worth that to you? If it’s that sweet of a chick it seems like it would be a good one to keep a round in order to handle since she doesn’t mind being handled I would keep her or him if you want a him and keep on handling him a lot to keep up the good relationship. You can’t beat that. Do you have any kind of idea at all what type of chicken she would be? Everyone likes to talk about all the so called preferred breeds for beginners or those that want gentle breeds that like to be handled but I think a lot of it with birds is like any animal. The more you handle them and the manner in which you do so is the key to them being easy going and manageable. That is also whether they were feral conceived in origin as well. I’m basing this on dogs and cats for my knowledge base figuring chickens are bound to be similar since all our breeds came from tamed jungle fowl that were bred into different strains we will call them for my lack of use of correct terminology in this case. Anyhow I wish you and your daughter the best of luck with your new chick and your new flock that is coming to be and I will give you a name suggestion. “Origin”. Depending on her coloring Oreo for short. I have no idea what she looks like.
Cheers,
Pam

 

[Rachnicko]

This is such a cute story I’d love to see a pic... and name when you have one.
I think you could be fine introducing the feral chick to the newbies... you may just need to supervise a bit, but the older feral chick should take discipline from you since you will have played mother for 2 weeks

 

[rosemarythyme]

What's the best way to introduce this feral baby chick, who will be 2 weeks old when our other babies arrive, to the rest of her new flock? I want to avoid bullying of course, but I know this single baby chick would like company. Does it matter if this baby chick turns out to be a rooster? Can I vaccinate this baby chick myself? Our other babies are arriving vaccinated. Are there any other medicines the feral chick might need?

Best would be to start with a wire mesh separator in the brooder so it can see the new chicks, but not touch them. After a few days and when you have time to supervise, you can take away the divider and see how the two sides do with one another.

If it's a rooster, that's really up to you if you want to keep him or not - some people don't want to keep roosters, in many places it's illegal.

The chick is already too old to be vaccinated for coccidiosis/Mareks. You don't need "medicine" for it like you would a domesticated dog/cat... generally chickens only get treated for things when they actually need them, not proactively.

 

[Corn Thrower]

I would introduce them to each other as soon as possible. Probably they bond really quick since they are so tiny.
at first you would put them in the same brooder together with a see trough panel and only allow supervised Visits if you see they go along well you have yourself 1 flock with a little bit of age difference

Thank you so much for the good advice! The little chick is 1 week old today and doing great! We named it Lucky. Lucky is now twice as big, confident, and feathering out on the wing tips! Yesterday, we found another hatchling being attacked by a hen (to my great surprise! Ive never found brand new hatchlings before this week) in the road yesterday, and introduced them to each other like you said. They both seem glad to have each other and Lucky is less stressed and chirpy. We now have a tiny flock! So cool!

 

[Corn Thrower]

This is such a cute story I’d love to see a pic... and name when you have one.
I think you could be fine introducing the feral chick to the newbies... you may just need to supervise a bit, but the older feral chick should take discipline from you since you will have played mother for 2 weeks

Thank you for the good advice!

We named the chick Lucky! We all agreed it was one lucky chick Here is a pic from Lucky’s first day, last week, and a pic I took this morning. Lucky likes to perch on my shoulder and burrow in my hair. It’s very sweet, and so far I’ve also been really lucky about not getting pooped on so far so good anyway .....!

 

[Corn Thrower]

Best would be to start with a wire mesh separator in the brooder so it can see the new chicks, but not touch them. After a few days and when you have time to supervise, you can take away the divider and see how the two sides do with one another.

If it's a rooster, that's really up to you if you want to keep him or not - some people don't want to keep roosters, in many places it's illegal.

The chick is already too old to be vaccinated for coccidiosis/Mareks. You don't need "medicine" for it like you would a domesticated dog/cat... generally chickens only get treated for things when they actually need them, not proactively.

Thank you for the good advice! I appreciate it! How old is too old to vaccinate?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you for the good advice! I appreciate it! How old is too old to vaccinate?

Mareks and coccidiosis vaccinations are done immediately after hatching.

 

[Corn Thrower]

I totally agree. Who knows. Your feral chicks mom might have actually been vaccinated herself and could have passed on some antibodies to him or her for some things. It maybe healthier than you would think. Just give it a head start by feeding it what you already have there and it may do very well. Where I live it’s hard to get Vets to see chickens but you may have better luck where you live. Can you have her seen by a Vet? Is she worth that to you? If it’s that sweet of a chick it seems like it would be a good one to keep a round in order to handle since she doesn’t mind being handled I would keep her or him if you want a him and keep on handling him a lot to keep up the good relationship. You can’t beat that. Do you have any kind of idea at all what type of chicken she would be? Everyone likes to talk about all the so called preferred breeds for beginners or those that want gentle breeds that like to be handled but I think a lot of it with birds is like any animal. The more you handle them and the manner in which you do so is the key to them being easy going and manageable. That is also whether they were feral conceived in origin as well. I’m basing this on dogs and cats for my knowledge base figuring chickens are bound to be similar since all our breeds came from tamed jungle fowl that were bred into different strains we will call them for my lack of use of correct terminology in this case. Anyhow I wish you and your daughter the best of luck with your new chick and your new flock that is coming to be and I will give you a name suggestion. “Origin”. Depending on her coloring Oreo for short. I have no idea what she looks like.
Cheers,
Pam

Thank you so much for the detailed response! The chick does seem to be healthy. It is growing fast (size doubled in one week) and feathering out, and showing much less interest in mirrors and feathers and bird sound and a lot more interest in people and people activities. It likes to perch up on my shoulder and gently peck in my hair. It’s very sweet!

I’ve “rescued” baby chicks from the woods before, but only to warm them up for the night before sending them back outside. The older chicks I have seen before chirped for their mother almost constantly, and did not like being held. They were happy to be released in the morning and went looking for mama right away. This little chick loves to be held, and only chirps when I am away. It thinks I am mama. We ended up naming the chick Lucky.

We ended up finding another hatchling yesterday in the street, getting pecked by a hen. I shooed the hen away, and brought the tiny chick inside to be a friend for Lucky. I introduced them slowly, and Lucky is a bit dominant with the new baby but not pecky or mean. They baby copies Lucky’s every move. They snuggle together in the warm cardboard box and Lucky honestly seems much happier and needs less attention throughout the day. Lucky is still on its little lucky streak, it seems!

I’m not sure about the breed! The feral chickens here are a mix of escaped farm
birds and pets, and what they call red junglefowl— truly wild chickens. There are no predators of adult chickens in the wild here, but mongoose, rats and cats eat the babies. We live near farmland so I think we have more escaped farm chickens in the mix here. They come in all colors. We put out cracked corn for them, and they come fertilize my yard and eat bugs. It’s a good deal for me and the kids love them We have names for the chickens who hang out in our yard. The dominant hen, with 3 chicks of her own who stole the nest is called Zuchinni, and the hen that laid the eggs but abandoned the nest (where Lucky was the only hath), we call Pepper. I will try to get a picture of Pepper for you! She is a bit flighty but always shows up for corn. I have no idea who the rooster is.

And thank you for the lovely name suggestion, we do still need a name for the littlest chick I like Origin, I will have to run it by my daughter!