Maggie has abandoned her chick!

[Peppercorngal]

You may find this isn't full abandonment yet, particularly if mum's egg cycle has started up again. Sometimes here I get an intermediate stage where mum no longer feeds the chick full time but doesn't drive it away either.
Three and half weeks is a little younger than I would hope for to be left to fend for itself but as Ridgrunner mentions, not that uncommon.
I certainly wouldn't separate the chick from her mum or the rest of the flock unless the chick gets attacked.

Pauly runs to Maggie and she is not mean to him at all but does not do the mother hen clucking anymore. Pauly is constantly chirping loudly unless he can get next to Mom. So far she allows him to be with her but at times she "runs off" without Pauly and he get a little frantic, not knowing what to do without her. So far the other chickens just ignore Pauly. I'll keep watching and listening for any commotion in the flock today. I haven't checked "her box" in the coop yet. She was in there early this morning. She always lays in and uses the same box to be broody, I need to see if she laid an egg.

 

[Peppercorngal]

I would let it be in the flock unless you see it's being bullied. Adding new chicks won't help the current situation, just give you more work. If your set up is big enough and your flock is fairly stable the chick will do fine.

I am hoping so. They have plenty of room and so far no one is bothering chick Pauly. I don't want to isolate Pauly, that will upset the pecking order and he'd have to find his place in the flock AGAIN later, I see no point in that, so we'll let things be and see what happens. . . . .

 

[2 many chickens]

Then leave things as they are. Sounds like all is well. I only did the see no touch because the chicks were being chased and pecked non stop by several hens.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Then leave things as they are. Sounds like all is well. I only did the see no touch because the chicks were being chased and pecked non stop by several hens.

So far today all is well. Pauly will get in the middle of some older hens on occasion and get a swift peck, but one peck, no more. He runs off and looks for Mom again. They ate plenty this morning and now it's rest time. Pauly and mommy are together right now. Some chickens are laying down, some are dirt bathing, some are roosting and some are fooling around in the many water containers that I just filled with cool clean water. If things continue as they are it will be ok.

 

[Shadrach]

So far today all is well. Pauly will get in the middle of some older hens on occasion and get a swift peck, but one peck, no more. He runs off and looks for Mom again. They ate plenty this morning and now it's rest time. Pauly and mommy are together right now. Some chickens are laying down, some are dirt bathing, some are roosting and some are fooling around in the many water containers that I just filled with cool clean water. If things continue as they are it will be ok.

Cool. They are usually fine at a surprisingly young age if the flock is stable. Here when the youngsters get a warning peck from one of the grumpy senior hens they go and hide under their dad.

 

[hkirchn]

Always great advice here......…..no substitute for being watchful. I think it will be fine.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Always great advice here......…..no substitute for being watchful. I think it will be fine.

While I was filling feeders and giving water Maggie and Pauly were drinking. Pauly was quite engrossed in the drinking while Maggie walked away! Pauly finally realized he was alone and jumped on a large rock and started his loudest chirping for Mommy! She did not return or pay any attention. He jumped off the rock and ran all around until he found her! Later they were laying together in the shade! It's working I guess. . . . He doesn't really need her, but he/she doesn't realize that yet. He's going to learn fast I think.

 

[aart]

It's working I guess. . . . He doesn't really need her, but he/she doesn't realize that yet. He's going to learn fast I think.

I find integrating (rather watching it) broody chicks harder than incubated chicks.
When mama weans them they seem really lost for at least a few days.
Gonna be tougher on the single chick, with no buddies, but it'll find it's way.

Had a broody hatch last year(1F & 3M), then an incubated hatch a couple months later.
When I had to take the older male chicks out, poor 'little sister' was lost.
She eventually teamed up with the younger bunch and all was well.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Last night Maggie went into the "big" coop to sleep. I'm assuming that she wants to be inside, but wants to roost, which she can't do in the "small" coop where she hatched Pauly and had been sleeping with him/her in the nesting box. The other younglings roost in there and take all the space. They "go to bed" much earlier than Maggie, as a matter of fact, she is the last chicken to go into a coop! Pauly was freaked out about all the "big" hens and ended up outside the big coop trying to crawl under all the hens that were roosting outside! He got pecked and fell to the ground. I heard the commotion and went into the run and caught Pauly. I put him in the small coop, grabbed Maggie and put her in there too. Today Pauly was split up from Mom a few times and was very frantic. I didn't intervene and just let Pauly find Mom. He eventually finds her and calms down. She doesn't cluck anymore, she doesn't pay him any mind either. She pretty much just goes about doing what she wants and going where she wants. If he is there, fine, and if he is not fine. Poor little chick, I don't know if I should let him just deal with the big girls at night. I'm worried the hens will kill him for bugging them! I'm trying not to get involved, but it's hard!! Here's their photo today.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I've had hens ween as young as three weeks. She's obviously comfortable with the living conditions or she wouldn't have given her chick 'walking-papers'. This is not out of ordinary, it's just a very confident momma hen saying the chick is ready for integrating into the flock. There should be a bit of pecking (usually gentle) from the others, establishing pecking order and the flock being a village that is now raising the chick. I'd just make sure there's some areas that the chick can run behind or under, just in case.