Single chick what to do

[Katey802]

Hey all I’m new to the community! I had 2 broody silkies on 9 eggs together, only two hatched about 4 days ago. I went out this morning to the brooding pen and one chick was dead leaving me with a single chick. I have a friend who offered to take that chick in, she has a hen who hatched out two chicks the same day as ours, but that would leave my two mamas without a chick, and I’m not sure that her hen will accept it. I’m not sure what the cause of death was, if my hens were fighting over it or if they’re not doing a good job of showing it how to eat/drink. My other option would be to take the chick out and raise it myself inside but I feel it’s not healthy for him to be alone. What are your thoughts? I was so hopeful with this hatch as I just had a successful hatch about a month ago from one of my other silkies, her chicks are thriving.

 

[NatJ]

If you give the chick to your friend, and if your friend's hen will accept the chick, that could be a very good solution. Your hens will soon get used to having no chicks, and go back to normal life.

If you want to keep the chick, I would separate the two hens and leave the chick with just one of them. That would prevent any fighting between the hens. You could give the chick to whichever hen seemed to be acting like a better mother. One chick with a hen can learn proper chicken interactions, in a way that one chick alone in a brooder cannot.

I’m not sure what the cause of death was, if my hens were fighting over it or if they’re not doing a good job of showing it how to eat/drink.

You can check about the eating & drinking be feeling the crop. The crop is a pouch at the base of the neck on the front, usually a little bit to one side. It is usually empty when a chicken wakes up in the morning, but gets full and bulgy as the chicken eats during the day. You can try feeling the crops on the hens to get an idea, then check the chick. A full crop on a chick is about the size of a marble or a human fingertip. If the chick has food in the crop during the day and evening, it is probably eating just fine. If the food in the crop is in hard dry pieces, you can tell that by feeling (it might mean the chick is not drinking enough, or it might be fine anyway.) If the crop has slightly-soft material in it, the chick is almost certainly eating and drinking just fine.

My other option would be to take the chick out and raise it myself inside but I feel it’s not healthy for him to be alone.

I agree, it would be better if the chick can grow up interacting with other chickens (either chicks its own age, or a chicken mother.)