NEED ASSISTANCE: Just hatched my first egg by sheer luck, now what?

[EpicBlueAcres]

A bit of background on how I ended up in a situation I didn't prep for ahead of time.......
I have a took in 3 rescue bantams this winter, they were so sick I kept them on the house in a flight bird cage. Well they are all healthy now and were ready for there outside coop before moving in with my main group. Well the birchen cochin bantam (Poe) decided to go broody. I have never had a broody hen before so I read up on what to do and decided... Rather than try to break it and have her stop eating (they were finally at a healthy weight) I gave her a fertilized egg (from my EE hen & seabright bantam roo) to sit on and be happy. She would come out to eat and drink and I figured when her time was up she would snap out of it. To my surprise she actually hatched it ( sometime within the past 2 hours)...... WHAT DO I DO NOW? So far I decided the mom & baby from my other 2 bantam hens with a cage divider, moved the water close to the box and took out her layer food and put medicated chick started in a feeder just outside the box (The nesting box has no front lip on it). Normally I would have prepared way ahead but never thought on the first time (for both of us) it would have hatched. Thankyou for any advise

 

[echosrevenge]

As long as there's food and water at a height the chick can reach, and she is taking care of it, you should be fine. Momma hens are WAY better at the business of raising chicks than we humans are...and bantams tend to make very determined mommas!

 

[EpicBlueAcres]

That is wonderful news, Thankyou! The food is in a open ceramic cat dish about 1 inch tall side walland the water is in a quail auto water container. I have to go to the feed store to get another chick feeder for her, just improvised tonight

 

[MaTanner1]

I had that happen once too. It's a very exciting time... But on the serious side, you should probly put a 1x4 on the front of the nesting box, so baby doesn't fall out. Mommy will get her down when she's ready. Otherwise, keep her and baby away from the others till baby is at least 3 wks old. Then when baby is big enough, 6-9 wks you can put baby in with the others too. Baby will get picked on for a few days, but should be ok. They will all establish their rank with the baby. Watch closely to determine if baby can handle it on her/his own before intervening. Unless there's more than a few bloody spots, don't intervene. They have to work it out. If it's really getting beat up, pull her/him out for a couple more weeks and try again.

MaTanner1

 

[EpicBlueAcres]

I have the box on the floor of the cage which is lined with shavings and have mom and baby separate. The plus side for moving to the main flock is I currently have my hatchery babies (2-5wks) waiting to join the main flock. My hopes with age is to mix all the new babies together in a few weeks then introduce the whole baby group to the main flock together in hopes to cut down on an bullying issues. I have a small starter coop outside my main coop so I can safely get them use to each other before full contact

 

[EpicBlueAcres]

Here is a pic i took last night when he/she was just born. The mom throwing all the hay i put in the box out, she has done this since the day she got broody, should i try adding new hay in the box?

 

[Sphinx]

Yeah, I would put new bedding in- cardboard can be kind of slick, which can injure a chick's legs.

Very cute!

 

[echosrevenge]

Paper towels can work really well as grippy bedding for chicks that's cheap and easy to replace frequently. I use cut-down flannel sheets for my day olds, dirt for anyone over a week.

 

[EpicBlueAcres]

Paper towels can work really well as grippy bedding for chicks that's cheap and easy to replace frequently. I use cut-down flannel sheets for my day olds, dirt for anyone over a week.

Good idea, I just put down hay, maybe I will put paper towels under the hay incase mom decides to throw the hay out of the box still.