What should I do for an only chick

[bobbieschicks]

I had 1 out of 14 shipped eggs hatch - 3 I'm leaving in the bator until Saturday as today is Day 21, but I'm pretty sure nothing is happening there. The other 10 never got past Day 1 and were removed on Day 14.

So now I have a beautiful AC chick

This is the brooder set up I have at present - she arrived 2 days earlier then expected and I planned to move the WL out to the coop & give the new hatch the brooder.

But what do I do with her? Will she be okay alone? I'm about to move my 4 week old White Leghorns out to their coop so she won't even have them to watch through the brooder. Should I try to find a source for day old chicks locally? I haven't any idea who sells chicks in King George VA. Does it have to be the same age or can it be slightly older/younger then her? Will the 30 day quarantine rule still apply or does it depend on the source of the chick? Is it even prudent to rush out and get her a brooder mate as I don't even know if she will survive - last hatch we lost one on day 3 to pastybutt and I'm vigilant about it now, but what if she does die - then I'm stuck with the same situation, but a different chick. UGH!

The other eggs were not developing so I pulled them from the bator and disposed of them. She was the only egg out of 14 that survived the heat wave of summer 2011.

Thanks,
Bobbie

 

[pgpoultry]

I have had a couple of hatches of a single chick. I love it. If you like buy her some company...she'll appreciate this and will learn to be a chicken better...otherwise she can be a companion-chick like this....

However, this little thing has morphed into this....

but he still likes his cuddles!

 

[OtterCreekRanch]

Last time I hatched a single chick I did go out and buy a companion for him/her. Unfortunally I lost the original chick a few days later and was stuck with the new chick that wasn't really a type I wanted anyway (had always planned to just give it away when the first chick got old enough to go with the other chickens). So I ended up posting it for free on craigslist to someone who had other chicks. I found someone pretty quickly.

I think if I had it to do over again I would probably get two companion chicks just in case I lost one.

 

[catsew]

Everyone says to try to get a companion chick first. I think they said the quarantine isn't a big deal at that age, but if you had to do it, it would defeat the purpose of getting more.
Anyway, I have a single chick too that I was unable to find a companion for. He's great. Super friendly, loves playing with the dogs. I put him out to play in a separate area from our other chicks to learn how to be a chicken, but most of the time he's alone and I do feel bad.
I gave him a folded up towel to sleep with and kept the temps a bit warmer since he didn't have anyone else to cuddle with. He was only loud for about 4 days.

 

[Lovable Chicks]

I hatched out just one chick too and did find him a buddy but he is so attached to me it sometimes gets crazy. I also hatched out 24 others a few weeks later and all R happy together now. The Buddy I bought for him was a few days older but still worked out fine. Some do give a small stuffed animal which will work sometimes but didn't for my guy.

He is the black and white one walking toward me...

 

[audrey02026]

Quote:
So are you saying that you put the baby with chicks that hatched 3 weeks later? So the baby was about 3 weels older than the new chicks? I'm asking because I too had only one chick hatch and I also have more eggs in the incubator that should hatch in 2 1/2 weeks and was wondering if you could put them all together. That would make life so much easier as I have two coops already one with 5 month olds and one with 7 week olds that I'm hoping I can intergrate the 7 week olds with the 5 month olds by the time all the new ones are ready to go outside. I already let them all free range together so they are getting used to each other.

 

[dorkings]

I hope your little peep is doing well by itself. When I had one that needed to be seperated I put another peep with them.

 

[taprock]

I think you need to find out what kind of temperament your chick has before you go get more right now. My single chick was perfectly content by herself. We gave her a mirror and a pillow and lots of attention. We did have to deal with the fact she didn't realize she was a chicken when we added her to other chicks after a month and a half. She still loves people but is fine in the coop.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Quote:
So are you saying that you put the baby with chicks that hatched 3 weeks later? So the baby was about 3 weels older than the new chicks? I'm asking because I too had only one chick hatch and I also have more eggs in the incubator that should hatch in 2 1/2 weeks and was wondering if you could put them all together. That would make life so much easier as I have two coops already one with 5 month olds and one with 7 week olds that I'm hoping I can intergrate the 7 week olds with the 5 month olds by the time all the new ones are ready to go outside. I already let them all free range together so they are getting used to each other.

I thought the post said the chick and buddy were about the same age. I don't think I would put a newly hatched chick with one that is 3 weeks old unless the 3 week old was extremely docile. I know my WLs would have pecked my little AC to death if I tried to mix them this early. I'm still a little worried about how it will play out when they're mixed together in a couple of weeks. We're going to have many play dates between now and then where the two groups (4 week olds and 6 day olds) are near each other but not together. So they can see each other and get used to the smells of each other. I plan to have them all together by September in the big coop.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I have two brooder mates for little AC now - at first I was worried that AC wouldn't get along with them b/c she was acting so wild and bossy. But after having spent 2 days bumping and rushing each other - everyone has settled into a nice routine with no eye pecking and only occassional ruffled feathers

Here are Smokey, AC and Bandit all chowing down on Saturday. AC pauses to reflect on how wonderful it is to have brooder mates.