Only one chick hatched no others. HELP! *update*

[dirt4life]

We recently just placed 20 eggs to hatch. The problem is only 1 survived the hatching. We sadly had a power outage and that killed the temp in our incubator . Now what do we do with the one hatched little chick. Its about 3 days old now and it seems so lonely. We have other eggs in the incubator now but they will be so far apart in age. Please help the poor cutie


*update***

A friend arrived! The two are getting along great

 

[jadenthechicken]

you could keep him in the house and feed him till he grows up. the eggs that havent hatched smell them to see if they are rotten. if the dont smell rotten leave them in the incubator. You could also candle them. take a flashlight and hold it up to the egg.it is hard to explain candling so you should look it up online .

 

[dirt4life]

We kept them in the incubator in hope that they will make it. We candled them but its not looking promising. We removed a couple as they began to smell.
Thanks for the idea of keeping him inside. We moved him into the garage with his own light, food/water earlier today hopefully he gets strong. He sure is a cute one!

 

[LaynaDon95]

There are lots of tips on this. I had the same problem recently (long story) and tried a lot of things. Stuffed animals, a mirror, etc. The mirror worked best, but he still wasn't happy. I ended up making him a diaper so he could follow me around the house, but he hated the diaper and still screamed. My best advice is do whatever you can to get him a friend or 2. Thor (my lonely chick) was happiest sitting in my shirt while I walked around and did household chores, but he would squirm and kept falling out, so I couldn't do that often. I finally gave him to my duck who had just hatched ducklings and he lived with them happily, until he got big enough the jump into the pool. I had taken the steps off the pool so he wouldn't drown, but he learned how to jump in while I wasn't home and drowned.

Anyways, long story short, try to get him a friend. If you have a friend with chicks see if you can take one of theirs. Worse comes to worse, maybe you could give him to a friend who has chicks if they aren't willing to give you one. He will be very lonely without siblings.

 

[dirt4life]

I hope we can find another baby chick at least. No one we really know around here is into poultry all that much. I don't think he would do so well with a calf lol. I might try your technique bringing him around the house with us.
Thanks for your advice!

 

[dirt4life]

Well and update the baby chick is still alive as of an hour ago . But sadly no other chicks have hatched yet. I decided to call him Fighter as so far he has over came a lot. "Fighter" is now eating little crumbles and drinking out of the waterer we have.

 

[Vicky2479]

I would ring around your local feed supply stores to see if any have chicks for sale or everyone keeps mentioning Craigslist when it comes to advertising for things (I am in Australia so not sure what this is) but I would do want you can to get him some friends, chickens hate being alone.
Ps I just looked up Craigslist and it looks like we do have it here in aus

 

[bobbieschicks]

Be sure to keep her under a heat lamp or a broody - especially at night. Give her a stuffed toy to cuddle next to and a mirror to look at herself. Show her where the food and water are located.

What I did when I didn't have a broody and had only one hatch - I checked local Craigslist, BYC for sale ads and finally contacted a woman who sells hatching eggs off eBay. I noticed she was in a town not too far from me and I emailed her a special favor request. Would she be willing to sell me a couple of day old chicks to help my baby not be lonely. She did and we still have one of the pullets that came from her. The other one passed away at POL.

I would suggest you try and find a companion for your chick as unless she is your only chicken she will need the help getting integrated into your flock - plus they like the companionship of other chickens.

Hope it works out for you!

 

[dirt4life]

Thanks for the advice, we have her under a heat lamp, she is eating and drinking good.
Going to try the mirror thing later. They are kept out at my boyfriends place so I will mention to him about that idea. All your ideas are great!

 

[LaynaDon95]

Oh! I didn't read everyone else's posts so I don't know if they said this already or not, but you can make a "feather duster" out of you older hen's (if you have some) feathers and put them under the heat lamp, hanging from above. This simulates the feeling of a warm Mama hen and the chick with (theoretically) snuggle up under them like he would a Mama.