Raising a lonely chick ?

[luxregina]

Ok, a little bit of information first...
I live in Savannah, GA
I was offered as a departure gift, from my previous job, two little chicks, that are supposed to be around a week old.
I've never raised chickens before. the reason why I got those as a gift is because I used to make "bawk bawk" noises around my office, and for several years now, my colleagues always offer me chicken themed gifts... I guessed they went for the real thing as I was leaving my job.

They came in a shoebox (the gift box). so I read a little bit online, and followed the advice to buy a small rabbit cage, kept them in a warm environment, bought some starter grains, and started to get used to the idea that I would have new pets ( I already have a dog )

Savannah is already quite warm, and I thought it was cruel to keep those little birds in the cage during the day, so I went to Home Depot, and build a Chicken Run, that I could attach to a Coop that I would build once they grow up a bit.

They spent 2 full days in that "run" and they really seemed to love it ( by days, I mean that they would be outside from 12AM to 4PM )

I even took a video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf8VLWXV7tk

Today, as I was working from home, I heard loud chirping noises, ran downstairs, and found only one chick in the run ... Even though the floor seemed quite leveled, I guess one found its way out.
I waited a little while to see if the shirping sounds would bring back the lost one to its mate, went looking around the neighborhood, with no success ...a lot of people have cats here, so I'm assuming that one of my chick is now dead

(it wasn't the dog, she was with me all afternoon)

The other one is very shocked : he/she keep chirping, very loudly. I looked online, and found your forums, with a similar topic, so I've added a stuffed animal (from my dog) and a mirror in the cage to keep him/her busy.

Now, what should I do ? Is it possible to raise a lonely chicken ? I know they are flock animals, and I don't want to be cruel. Should I give them to a farmer with more chickens ? (can a lonely chick integrate a flock of its own ?) Should I buy another chick to keep him/her company ? (how easy will integration be ?)
I don't want to have a whole flock in my backyard, but I do love animals and really want to provide the ones I have the best life possible.

Sorry for the grammatical structure : i'm a foreigner and I know my english is sometimes "off".

Please, provide any advice you think is relevant to this situation

 

[m2wandc]

contact your local feed store and see if you can get one or two ASAP.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Find it a little friend. Chickens are socail creatures and should be with others of their own kind.

An' trust me, your English is fine as frog's hair!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

In the meantime, until you find another friend for it, put a stuffed toy animal in there for it to cuddle up next to.

 

[luxregina]

Do they have a sense of smell ? I've put one of my dog's furry toys, but my wife told me it would likely smell like a predator, so I removed it.

I'll check tomorrow where my collegues bought them, but i'm concerned about the "old" one accepting new friends : any insights on that ?

 

[mtnhomechick]

I liked the video but Chicken Wire won't work well at this age. A cat can reach right in there and pull it out or claw it to death. You need hardware wire.

They are cute. You should get another......they are social creatures. At this early age it will probably not pose a problem to introduce a new chick ( or two, or three..........)!

 

[Yoshii]

Yes, you can safely introduce another chick at this age, and it would really be best. They're social animals, and unless you want to devote a large amount of time to the chick, it won't do well, and even then, it'd be a little like if you only had a monkey for a friend -- not quite the same!

Any chick of about the same size and age should be fine. They're might be a little pecking and fighting at first, but so long as no one is bleeding, it's fine. I recommend checking your local Craigslist for chicks if you don't have a farm or garden store (you're in Savannah? Here ya go!)

Best of luck!

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

I posted a similar question a day or 2 ago because some of my chicks died and left one lonely chick. What seemed to work best after all was said and done was to put it with more chicks of about the same age. We have some that are a bit older, but they wanted to peck at the younger chick when we tried it with them. It's eating again, scratching around, and acting like a normal little chick now. When it was by itself, it just laid around all the time. I would agree with the recommendation to buy more chicks. I only have 4 in that small cage, but they seem happy together and like so sleep all piled up together.

 

[luxregina]

First, I want to thank you all for your quick answers. I'll go to the same store my collegues bought them, and try to find if they happen to have other hatchlings, or at least, around the same age. Talked with the wife, and eventhough she wasn't too crazy about having chickens first, she got seduced too ( holding the little chick next to her heart seemed to quiet him/her down very fast tonight )

I guess, I'll have some more questions for you all as we go through the process of raising these little ones to an adult state.

By the way, one of my neighbor, that lived in a farm told me they were most likely White Giant chicks (though, he wasn't sure)

 

[cobrien]

Hope your baby finds a friend soon. Until then, I would hold it as much as possible if s/he quiets down when you do that. S/he might like to snuggle under your shirt - mine do!