Our little Egg

[Aussiechookmum]

Our Silkie was sitting on about 10 eggs - hatched out 4 then abandoned the rest.
We took them inside and managed to sucessfully hatch out one extra - we've named him (her?) Egg.

We tried to reintroduce Egg to mum the day after hatching but she was having none of it, so he's been raised by hand.
He's now 8 weeks old. Pretty warm here, so he's been outside (free range) with the others for about the last 3 weeks with no major issues, except that he doesn't 'hang out' with them. He's been sleeping at night in the shed in his own cage.

We're now wondering when it will be OK to have him sleep in the chook house with the others? We're concerned that they'll pick on him in the early daylight hours before they're let out for the day (sun is up here now at 4.30am - they dont get let out till around 7am). But he's getting a bit big for the current cage, and more independant now too so he's more difficult to catch in the evenings anyway. Obviously eventually they'll all end up living together and we're thinking maybe the longer we put it off the harder it'll be for him too? So we're at a 'should we, shouldnt we' kind of stage.

Heat isnt an issue here now - heading into an Aussie summer, but its the pecking order thing we're worried about. Any suggestions?

 

[warmwater]

Well, what you can do in the future if you hatch eggs with your broody and this happens again 1. Try to put chick under hen late at night, if she won't except the chick and you have to raise it...2. Take another chick so they will have company when you introduce them to the flock.

Now your current problem.....My neighbor hatched eggs in her (new) incubator for fun but when the 2 chicks hatched she did not want them so I raised them. I also let them range with the big girls and kept them in a seperate crate in the coop...like you are doing. So, one Friday after work I let them all go in to roost that night and I watched to make sure my two little ones were okay, (they were the last two in and they didn't go near the others) so when everyone was settled and all was quiet I locked them up.

I always let them out before I go to work, but Sat. morning I got up just before dawn and opened their door and waited outside to see how things went. The chicks were the first ones out, very nervous. I threw scratch in the run so when the big girls came out they were occupied with that and not the chicks. I watched to see how things went, then I opened the gate so they could all go out into the yard. I did the same thing Sat. night and Sunday morning. It took me a week before I felt okay about it.

You might have to do it longer, because your chick is alone. Or you might try putting your chick in the run with one or two of the other chicks....(with treats) and see how they get along together, maybe they will accept him and he will have others to hang out with. Every situation is different, it takes time and effort on your part because chickens can be very cruel.

Hope this helps, maybe others know of an easier way!