TheChickenGirl16
Chirping
- Apr 9, 2025
- 67
- 94
- 58
Hello everyone!
I have one lone chick,(it’s a strange story, but I will put that below). He hatched on Friday.
Right now he is in a little brooder with food, water, and a heat lamp. He is doing much better now than he was on Friday. For the first couple days of his life, he sat around quite a bit, but I would not describe it as lethargy. When he did walk around, he fluttered his wings, and looked…almost dizzy.
Nothing looked abnormal: no masses, runny poo, or discharges. He was able to stand up straight, so it wasn’t splayed leg. He would just lose balance, and falls over while preening. But he was always back up as quick as he fell.
Here he is:
Ok, now for the story of how this little guy came about:
So, I have three broodies right now. One had a successful hatch last Monday. One has 3-4 days to go. And the other was only on like day 7.
Friday morning I went out to feed the flock. Frenchfries, the broody on day seven, came out with everyone else to have breakfast.
Whilst they ate, I went in to my small run to tend mamma and the chicks. Upon exiting, I heard a loud chirping/ screaming coming from the big house. So, baffled and confused, I headed in to find answers. The only broody in the big house was Frenchfries. But it couldn’t be hers because she is only on day seven. Better check her nest anyway, I thought. When I first looked in, I was so confused. Lo and behold, there in the middle of the nest is a little grayish chick! He was screaming because he was probably cold. Now, very confused, slightly upset, and pretty freaked out,I tried to get Mrs Frenchfries back to her nest. (By the way, the reason I was freaked out was because I am wondering, WHERE DID THIS CHICK COME FROMMM?????). After 3 failed attempts at coaxing her on, I decided to leave it up to nature. But I went ahead and set up my CHICK-U. (This is a type of a brooder, mostly used for sick baby chickens.) 8’-{
Then I went back out to check on Chippy, the chick, and decided that his mamma was just not treating him right. She was just sort of smothering him as if he were still just an egg. We must remember, she is only on day 7.
Now, allow me to stop and say, I had always suspected that Frenchfries would kinda stink at being a mom. Not because she willfully chooses to harm her eggs, but just because she doesn’t care enough about them. She will often leave her eggs alone for 30 to 45 minutes, before she comes back.
Though she was now back on her nest, I decided to take the little baby and give him a thorough investigation before I popped him under the other mom. I would have let Frenchfries keep him if she would have taken care of him, but she seems determined that these eggs are what she should be focusing on. And I knew I couldn’t just feed him in place, because Frenchfries has quite the history of gluttony, and I knew that she would just gobble the food, gain to much weight, and never get up off her nest again.
He was doing pretty well in the brooder, but I decided that he was probably getting lonely, so, despite all of my siblings protests, I put a mirror in there. They feel like it’s cruel to trick him like that, but I kind of felt like I had to do something.
Here is Chippy meeting cousin Chips:
Yesterday morning, I found Chippy sleeping right between his “cousin”, and his stuffed friend:
Now I felt really bad! So once it got dark, I grabbed Chippy, and brought him out to Goldilocks,(the mom of week old chicks), and it was so precious! She looked at him for a moment, then popped him under like one of her own!
But it wasn’t until this morning, when she brought everyone out for breakfast, that she got to have a good look at him. She immediately noticed that he doesn’t have any wing feathers, and is much smaller than her other babies. She began pecking him, and chasing him away, she even stepped on him!!!
Her other 13 chicks obviously saw her beating on him, and they started chasing him too.
Looking on, I decided that with 14 to one, his odds weren’t too great.
So now he is back in the CHICK-U, and seems very lonely.
He now knows the difference between “cousins”, and actual chicks.
I would love to get him some chicks, ( that is, if I can find any).
What should I do???
I ended up determining that he had muscle issues, perhaps from being rotated in his final days,(Frenchfries thought she was only on day seven), but now he’s so much better! And I’m glad to see it.
Gooooo Chippppyyyy!!!!
I have one lone chick,(it’s a strange story, but I will put that below). He hatched on Friday.
Right now he is in a little brooder with food, water, and a heat lamp. He is doing much better now than he was on Friday. For the first couple days of his life, he sat around quite a bit, but I would not describe it as lethargy. When he did walk around, he fluttered his wings, and looked…almost dizzy.
Nothing looked abnormal: no masses, runny poo, or discharges. He was able to stand up straight, so it wasn’t splayed leg. He would just lose balance, and falls over while preening. But he was always back up as quick as he fell.
Here he is:
Ok, now for the story of how this little guy came about:
So, I have three broodies right now. One had a successful hatch last Monday. One has 3-4 days to go. And the other was only on like day 7.
Friday morning I went out to feed the flock. Frenchfries, the broody on day seven, came out with everyone else to have breakfast.
Whilst they ate, I went in to my small run to tend mamma and the chicks. Upon exiting, I heard a loud chirping/ screaming coming from the big house. So, baffled and confused, I headed in to find answers. The only broody in the big house was Frenchfries. But it couldn’t be hers because she is only on day seven. Better check her nest anyway, I thought. When I first looked in, I was so confused. Lo and behold, there in the middle of the nest is a little grayish chick! He was screaming because he was probably cold. Now, very confused, slightly upset, and pretty freaked out,I tried to get Mrs Frenchfries back to her nest. (By the way, the reason I was freaked out was because I am wondering, WHERE DID THIS CHICK COME FROMMM?????). After 3 failed attempts at coaxing her on, I decided to leave it up to nature. But I went ahead and set up my CHICK-U. (This is a type of a brooder, mostly used for sick baby chickens.) 8’-{
Then I went back out to check on Chippy, the chick, and decided that his mamma was just not treating him right. She was just sort of smothering him as if he were still just an egg. We must remember, she is only on day 7.
Now, allow me to stop and say, I had always suspected that Frenchfries would kinda stink at being a mom. Not because she willfully chooses to harm her eggs, but just because she doesn’t care enough about them. She will often leave her eggs alone for 30 to 45 minutes, before she comes back.
Though she was now back on her nest, I decided to take the little baby and give him a thorough investigation before I popped him under the other mom. I would have let Frenchfries keep him if she would have taken care of him, but she seems determined that these eggs are what she should be focusing on. And I knew I couldn’t just feed him in place, because Frenchfries has quite the history of gluttony, and I knew that she would just gobble the food, gain to much weight, and never get up off her nest again.
He was doing pretty well in the brooder, but I decided that he was probably getting lonely, so, despite all of my siblings protests, I put a mirror in there. They feel like it’s cruel to trick him like that, but I kind of felt like I had to do something.
Here is Chippy meeting cousin Chips:
Yesterday morning, I found Chippy sleeping right between his “cousin”, and his stuffed friend:
Now I felt really bad! So once it got dark, I grabbed Chippy, and brought him out to Goldilocks,(the mom of week old chicks), and it was so precious! She looked at him for a moment, then popped him under like one of her own!
But it wasn’t until this morning, when she brought everyone out for breakfast, that she got to have a good look at him. She immediately noticed that he doesn’t have any wing feathers, and is much smaller than her other babies. She began pecking him, and chasing him away, she even stepped on him!!!
Her other 13 chicks obviously saw her beating on him, and they started chasing him too.
Looking on, I decided that with 14 to one, his odds weren’t too great. So now he is back in the CHICK-U, and seems very lonely.
He now knows the difference between “cousins”, and actual chicks. I would love to get him some chicks, ( that is, if I can find any).
What should I do???
I ended up determining that he had muscle issues, perhaps from being rotated in his final days,(Frenchfries thought she was only on day seven), but now he’s so much better! And I’m glad to see it.
Gooooo Chippppyyyy!!!!
I guess I just need to catch my brother when he’s available!
