looking for advice on raising a rejected chick

[uhblue]

Sometimes they just abandon them for no reason, I had a friend who hatched chicks and the mom didn't take to one of them, so the adult hens were plucking her feathers out. We took her in and she's thriving!

That's super reassuring! I'm still a little anxious just because he's so small and seems so fragile but since he does seem to be doing really well I'm hoping the hen just didn't like him for some reason

I've heard that sometimes chickens can be mean to other chickens/chicks that stand out more than the rest of them do. I'm wondering if maybe his coloring got him kicked out? When I saw his mother with her other chicks it looks like he's the only completely dark colored one, most are striped brown or yellow

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm wondering if maybe his coloring got him kicked out? When I saw his mother with her other chicks it looks like he's the only completely dark colored one, most are striped brown or yellow

The color shouldn't matter, but I did notice in my flock of silkies that when I got cuckoos, and they grew up, one of my regular roosters went after them. He never attacked any other chickens and was a good rooster other than this. One day, we found one of the cuckoo hens dead in the yard, no clue. A few days later, we saw him on a different one, flattening her to the ground as he weighed twice what she did. He was pecking her head and would have killed her. We got her out of there and I sit her on the ground to see if she was okay. He ran over and attacked her right in my arms. We then knew he was who killed the first one. We eliminated him. So we learned, sometimes, some chickens do not like the color of other chickens.

It would otherwise be hard for me to believe this hen just abandoned a chick because it was different.

 

[uhblue]

The color shouldn't matter, but I did notice in my flock of silkies that when I got cuckoos, and they grew up, one of my regular roosters went after them. He never attacked any other chickens and was a good rooster other than this. One day, we found one of the cuckoo hens dead in the yard, no clue. A few days later, we saw him on a different one, flattening her to the ground as he weighed twice what she did. He was pecking her head and would have killed her. We got her out of there and I sit her on the ground to see if she was okay. He ran over and attacked her right in my arms. We then knew he was who killed the first one. We eliminated him. So we learned, sometimes, some chickens do not like the color of other chickens.

It would otherwise be hard for me to believe this hen just abandoned a chick because it was different.

It's awful that happened! The reasons that chickens pick on/attack other chickens seems so random to me.. That may just be because I don't know too terribly much about them though

Maybe his coloring isn't the reason this chick got abandoned then? I'm not sure why it happened but I'm very glad I found him before a dog or some other predator did. He still luckily seems to be doing well! He's very lively so I don't really think he was left because of some sort of illness or health issue. I'll be keeping a very close eye on him and his behavior just in case though