Introducing a single chick

[mamasnowwolf]

HI guys, I'm sorry this is a bit of a long story but I think the history of what happened will help explain my situation. We had 7 chicks in one of our smaller coops. It's way over crowded so we had planned on moving the chicks into a larger coop with a different flock when they are about 2-3 months old. One day we went out to lock up the birds and we had only 6 chicks. The chicks found a way out of the run and I think one was eaten by a snake. A couple days later, there is a dead chick under the ramp. (We thought she was dead) Turns out she was alive. We placed her in a kennel with food and water and made her as comfortable as possible. At this point she was not able to move. We put water in a jar lid and food on the floor so she wouldn't have to move. I thought for sure she would be dead in a couple of days.
Tuesday she was standing. By Friday she was walking. We took her out of the kennel to clean it and let her play in the weeds. She was bouncing along and eating bugs. She acted drunk at a few points but otherwise was just as happy as could be.
Her one wing still droops a bit, and she still limps a bit, but I think her recovery is amazing. My son named her Miracle. I am hoping that we can eventually put her back with the flock, but I'm not sure if this is a good idea. I do have some options since we want all these new chicks to move to a bigger coop.
We can wait and leave her inside until the chicks are moved to the big coop and just throw her in with them in the middle of the night. OR we can put her in with 4 chicks we bought, but were never accepted by the hen and they are now by themselves. (There's almost a month in age difference). I was thinking the younger chicks may not be so hard on the injured bird I don't know. Or at the end of the month, we have the fair and a chicken show, I can put the injured chick back with the flock after the fair with the other show bird. I hope she's big enough by then. She was hatched roughly around May 18. Despite her injuries, she hasn't stopped growing. Any advice on how to put her back with the flock?

 

[Debbie292d]

We're moving two/three-month-olds around occasionally, and they just accept whomever. That's still a good age. At four months old, it takes about three weeks for them to accept one another.

I would probably opt to put the chick with the younger ones for a few weeks though just for safety sake. I'm not sure doing it at night is necessary, but it definitely would simplify things.

Good luck!