new chicken

[chayla]

mumma hen hatched four chicks, the last one three days ago. I left the other two eggs there just incase. This morning I found that one off the eggs had been broken..like she had tried to help the chicken. The membrane was like leather and the chicken couldn't get out. I very carefully cut open the membrane and allowed the chicken to take it's own time. It is at this moment sitting in my hand sleeping. I think it has bonded with me.

My question is this.... is it too young to be put back with mum, as the others are so far ahead of it, and it also seems to have hurt it's beak, as it has a white tip like when you fold your finger nail back.
Any information would be a great help as I have never tried to raise a chicken before.

 

[ibpboo]

Congrats on the new chicks! I would try and keep the newest in the house for awhile, under a heat lamp. Maybe give it a day or two and then try and introduce it back ith the rest, but keep an eye to make sure mama hen doesn't attack it. Feed it chick starter. Also make sure your water is not too deep, or the little ones will drown. Make sure they can easily jump out if they get into it.

 

[chayla]

Thank you for your quick answer. Thank goodness it,s summer down here as I'm on solar and wouldn't normally run a lamp all night.

It's not drinking yet... I don't want to force it.... when do you think it should?

 

[Mahonri]

the white tip on the beak is it's egg tooth that obviously didn't work to get it out of the egg.

leave it be until it's stronger then introduce at night when they are all asleep.

 

[chayla]

Thank you Mahonri, I would have never thought to put it back when the rest were asleep. Two roos??? You have roo's in Arizona?

 

[ibpboo]

Try just dipping its beak into the bowl of water, just to show it where/what it is. Then it should figure it out on its own.
What kind of chicks are they?

 

[ibpboo]

You could place the chick in a cardboard box lined with paper towels. A regular light bulb will do if thats all you have. Do not let it get too close to the sides of the box as to catch it on fire though. Depending on how big the box is, you may have to cover part of the top to keep in the heat.

 

[chayla]

Don't know. A friend gave me a couple of white ones to start me off and then when my son was housesitting at the begining of the year, he got two brown ones from an egg farm. It looks like the other chickens may be two whites, a yellow one and a brown on. The little one I'm looking after is a kind of blonde. All I know is that they are not ISA Browns. We just have this land where we are trying to be self surporting as much as possible and it's all just one big learning curve.

Still, I like to feel I'm doing my bit for the planet.

 

[ibpboo]

You are off to a good start! Chickens can fertilize for you, and they eat bugs. They are also good for scratching up the weeds and dirt to prepare the ground for a garden!! And then they give you eggs!! If you want to eat the eggs, be sure and collect them daily.

 

[chayla]

We are going to make an enclosed pen for them as they are scratching up all the mulch I'm putting around the trees. Not only that, here in Australia we have a 'quoil' which it's local name is 'spotted cat'. It can climb trees and really make a mess if it gets into the chicken pen. I live down in Tasmania and over the last couple of years they have discovered that there are now fox's here also. Life just keeps getting harder and harder.