Please help me understand, don't know what to do for this baby

[Laffindog]

Hello, any advice is appreciated!

I had two baby chicks hatch on May 30th and 31st and they've been growing along just fine, until today. Unfortunately, my little dog killed one of the chicks this morning and has gotten a sound thrashing for it. We've had chickens for over a year and this is the first time this has happened. So now I have this poor little chick who is all alone because it's separated from the rest of the flock (four hens, one rooster). The rooster has always been aggressive to the chicks (he's the daddy) and so I keep them separated. After this chick died this morning, the mother hen wandered into the same area as the remaining baby and I thought that was good, so she would keep it company. She had always been very protective of the chicks until recently, when she joined the flock again. I was really startled to see her peck at it viciously a few minutes ago and it ran back into it's cage. I put the mother hen back with the rest of the adult birds.

Is this baby ever going to be accepted into the flock? Will it do alright by itself? Do I need to get rid of the rooster (which I have been wanting to do for awhile now anyway)? It's a sweet calm chick and I hate to see it picked on.

Any advice or insight?

Thanks,
L

 

[Sunny Side Up]

This chick will need to eat chick feed for the next 12-14 weeks so it will need to be kept more or less separately until it's 18-20 weeks old. Perhaps you could find it a friend sort of close to its age, but they may or may not get along. Or you could just keep it in a separate cage withing sight & hearing of the others, so they'll all get used to each other. As the chick grows you could even let them all out to free range together. But the chick will need the special feed to help it grow, and you'll have to figure out a way to make sure it gets only that & not the layer feed until its grown.

Good luck, & sorry for the loss of the other.

 

[Judy]

You can also feed all of them starter/grower and offer oyster shell free choice. But that's not going to help, as they obviously won't accept the chick. Best thing to do is find another chick or two, as close to his age or size as you can, for him to grow up with. Wait til they are adult size before trying to integrate again.

 

[Laffindog]

Thanks, Sunny-Side-Up. Yes, it lives in a very large dog cage and that cage is inside the chicken shed. They've always been exposed to each other, the adults and chicks. The adults get into their chicken yard through a small hatch but the babies stayed in the cage for a long time, then we started letting them into the backyard to explore. They had been fine for quite awhile and my dogs have been around them (chickens in general) for over a year without a problem. I think she was playing and got too aggressive, but regardless, I aim to keep her away permanently. Yes, the chick is on starter and also eats bugs in the yard.

I just feel sorry for it, having to stay separated by itself. Guess time will tell.

Thanks again!
L

 

[Laffindog]

Ok, thank you, too, ddawn!