Hello!
So for some context my neighbors have loose chickens in their yard (they sometimes fly over the fence into MY yard and I occasionally find them laying eggs in my shrubbery) that recently hatched out some eggs on my side of the fence and this chick was rejected by its mother in my yard for an unknown reason. She would not take it back when there was an attempt made to reunite it with her but she seems to be taking good care of the rest of her babies. I'm caring for the rejected chick now as the neighbors do not want to hand raise it. They're very hands off with all of their birds (I don't personally agree with this but it's not the focus of this post and they aren't my chickens) and told me they were going to let nature run its course but I could take the chick if I wanted to. I have set up an enclosure for it during the day with heat lamps (warm area is 95-100 degrees fahrenheit, colder side is around 70-73), a flat dish for food and a shallow water dish. At night it has been sleeping in a shoebox with a thermostat controlled heat mat underneath the box and paper towel bedding inside for him to snuggle up in(shoebox is consistently 95 degrees). I've only been leaving him alone at night for 4ish hours at a time. He doesn't cry at night in his box but I'm a bit of an anxious person and need to check the temps and have a peek at him to make sure he's okay to ease my nerves a little.
Since this chick is alone and chickens are social animals I'm spending most of my day interacting with it, holding it and trying to simulate foraging for food with it. I'm aware it's not recommended at all to raise a single chick alone but I currently can not get a second one to raise with it and I'm more than willing to dedicate most of my time to this bird much like I did with my parrot I've owned in the past. This chick is VERY young.. I can't give an exact number of days but I know he was only a few days old at most and his wings only just began to grow in those little spikes where his feathers will be when I got him.. It's been 2 and a half days now and the tips of those spikes are beginning to open up into feathers. I've taught it where the food and water is by dipping his beak in both a few times and he's eating and pooping regularly, though I don't see him drink water very much at all. I'm not sure how frequently he should be drinking since I don't really have experience with chicks this young.
This is where I have some questions/concerns.. I've ordered some chick starter that will get here in a day or two, until then I've made some mash with boiled eggs, very finely shredded carrots and plain cooked steel cut oats. Surely this isn't the correct diet for him but I'm hoping it will be alright for a couple of days. If not, what should I feed him in the meantime instead? I do keep reptiles so I have access to various sizes of live mealworms. Would it be good to give him some small ones? He is eating and pooping regularly and his poops all seem to be healthy when I compare them to normal chick poops online.
Should I be concerned about dehydration? I've shown him the water and seen him drink once, but I haven't seen him drink again unless prompted by me placing him near the water and tapping it with my finger. Even when prompted he doesn't seem all too interested, only pecking curiously at the water and swallowing whatever happens to stay on his beak when he pulls his head back up. Is it possible he's not thirsty because he's getting moisture in his mash? His poops always have the little white bit on them (urates I think?) and I've been told that means he's still getting water.
I've also noticed sometimes underneath the heat lamps he does what looks like panting. He doesn't do this anywhere else while warming up and he doesn't bother to move himself out from under the lamp. Should I be concerned about this? I've been warming him up in my hands rather than under the lamp when this happens. I also checked the temps under the lamp with a digital thermometer when this happens and they highest they've gotten to was 101 degrees fahrenheit.
Apologies for the long post and thank you for reading it! I'm VERY new to keeping chickens of any kind and this was an unexpected thing so I'm rather unprepared. I am more than willing to make changes to anything that isn't suitable for him and would like to try to give him the best possible second chance at life. I really appreciate any help you guys can give me!
So for some context my neighbors have loose chickens in their yard (they sometimes fly over the fence into MY yard and I occasionally find them laying eggs in my shrubbery) that recently hatched out some eggs on my side of the fence and this chick was rejected by its mother in my yard for an unknown reason. She would not take it back when there was an attempt made to reunite it with her but she seems to be taking good care of the rest of her babies. I'm caring for the rejected chick now as the neighbors do not want to hand raise it. They're very hands off with all of their birds (I don't personally agree with this but it's not the focus of this post and they aren't my chickens) and told me they were going to let nature run its course but I could take the chick if I wanted to. I have set up an enclosure for it during the day with heat lamps (warm area is 95-100 degrees fahrenheit, colder side is around 70-73), a flat dish for food and a shallow water dish. At night it has been sleeping in a shoebox with a thermostat controlled heat mat underneath the box and paper towel bedding inside for him to snuggle up in(shoebox is consistently 95 degrees). I've only been leaving him alone at night for 4ish hours at a time. He doesn't cry at night in his box but I'm a bit of an anxious person and need to check the temps and have a peek at him to make sure he's okay to ease my nerves a little.
Since this chick is alone and chickens are social animals I'm spending most of my day interacting with it, holding it and trying to simulate foraging for food with it. I'm aware it's not recommended at all to raise a single chick alone but I currently can not get a second one to raise with it and I'm more than willing to dedicate most of my time to this bird much like I did with my parrot I've owned in the past. This chick is VERY young.. I can't give an exact number of days but I know he was only a few days old at most and his wings only just began to grow in those little spikes where his feathers will be when I got him.. It's been 2 and a half days now and the tips of those spikes are beginning to open up into feathers. I've taught it where the food and water is by dipping his beak in both a few times and he's eating and pooping regularly, though I don't see him drink water very much at all. I'm not sure how frequently he should be drinking since I don't really have experience with chicks this young.
This is where I have some questions/concerns.. I've ordered some chick starter that will get here in a day or two, until then I've made some mash with boiled eggs, very finely shredded carrots and plain cooked steel cut oats. Surely this isn't the correct diet for him but I'm hoping it will be alright for a couple of days. If not, what should I feed him in the meantime instead? I do keep reptiles so I have access to various sizes of live mealworms. Would it be good to give him some small ones? He is eating and pooping regularly and his poops all seem to be healthy when I compare them to normal chick poops online.
Should I be concerned about dehydration? I've shown him the water and seen him drink once, but I haven't seen him drink again unless prompted by me placing him near the water and tapping it with my finger. Even when prompted he doesn't seem all too interested, only pecking curiously at the water and swallowing whatever happens to stay on his beak when he pulls his head back up. Is it possible he's not thirsty because he's getting moisture in his mash? His poops always have the little white bit on them (urates I think?) and I've been told that means he's still getting water.
I've also noticed sometimes underneath the heat lamps he does what looks like panting. He doesn't do this anywhere else while warming up and he doesn't bother to move himself out from under the lamp. Should I be concerned about this? I've been warming him up in my hands rather than under the lamp when this happens. I also checked the temps under the lamp with a digital thermometer when this happens and they highest they've gotten to was 101 degrees fahrenheit.
Apologies for the long post and thank you for reading it! I'm VERY new to keeping chickens of any kind and this was an unexpected thing so I'm rather unprepared. I am more than willing to make changes to anything that isn't suitable for him and would like to try to give him the best possible second chance at life. I really appreciate any help you guys can give me!
