Newbie!! I’m getting a 2.5 week old silkie

[Shandina]

i have 5 chickens, one roo 3 red hens and one silkie hen. A non profit posted a silkie chick they recovered for 8$ and I couldn’t help myself! But I don’t want to get into heat lamps and stuff, could I introduce the chick to my silkie hen and if she will let her take care of it? I have chick starter food and a dog crate if I need to keep away from the rest. I never had a chick before only chickens 4 months and older. What do I do? And need to know?

 

[HAPPYCHICKENLADY17]

i have 5 chickens, one roo 3 red hens and one silkie hen. A non profit posted a silkie chick they recovered for 8$ and I couldn’t help myself! But I don’t want to get into heat lamps and stuff, could I introduce the chick to my silkie hen and if she will let her take care of it? I have chick starter food and a dog crate if I need to keep away from the rest. I never had a chick before only chickens 4 months and older. What do I do? And need to know?

i had 2 silkies....one got eaten by a raccoon...they were 4 weeks old...i brought the one that was left up to the house and put it in a dog crate.... went the next day and got 4 little bantams to keep it company i was afraid to raise it all by itself, afraid it would get lonely...well the silkie is playing mother hen to these baby bantams,,,,,they love getting underneath the silkie and they all follow the silkie...they are all doing great and are a happy family now......i wish i knew for sure if the silkie i have is a hen or roos......its so adorable...i would love to find another silkie so i could have a pair

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

Unless your silkie is broody she will most likely kill the chick very quickly. I would go to your feed store and get the chick some friends(2) just make sure you get the oldest chicks the feed store has

 

[Shandina]

Unless your silkie is broody she will most likely kill the chick very quickly. I would go to your feed store and get the chick some friends(2) just make sure you get the oldest chicks the feed store has

my feed store only sell 1 day old chicks and they dont sell them yet, this chick is 2.5 weeks so older than I could get at the store anyways. How warm does a chick that old need? What if I keep it inside my house? we keep at house around 20-22f

 

[feathermaid]

Do you have a heating pad you can use?
I've raised my chicks with a Mama Heating Pad and they're usually fully feathered by 4-5 weeks old. But chicks raised with a heat lamp don't have the opportunity to be exposed to cooler air regularly and their feathering and acclimation is usually delayed. The benefit to using a heating pad cave is the chick will choose how much heat it needs and you won't have to worry about regulating an exact temperature.

At 2.5 wks, your silkie will probably still need some heat for a couple few/ more weeks. If you can set up a MHP in maybe a dog-crate brooder, or something that will keep your older birds safely separated, your chick can go right out to the coop and you can start See But Don’t Touch and hopefully achieve an easy integration in a few weeks or less. Here's another link for adding chicks to your flock: Integrating at 4 weeks old
If you can't get electricity out to your coop, you can finish raising it in your house, but I don't think an ambient temp of 22C is warm enough, your chick might end up complaining quite a bit, especially if it's used to a heat lamp. And the integration will take so much longer.

Probably the only way your Silkie hen would raise a chick she didn't hatch herself is if she's currently broody and has been actively sitting on a nest for at least 2-3 weeks, and even then she would likely only consider adopting day-olds.