In the middle of July I had a hen who was sitting on some eggs. Two of the eggs hatched. She sat on the chicks for a day, then took them out of the nest. While she was gone, showing her two newbies life in the big chicken house, a third egg hatched. If left to her own devises, she probably would have died. Mom didn’t want her, she couldn’t keep up and the other hens were starting to peck on her. I tried a surrogate mom, a broody hen sitting on eggs, but she pushed the babe out of the nest. So, I brought her into the house, set up a small plastic tub with a heat lamp and a feather duster (her faux mom – an idea mentioned in a Fresh Eggs Daily with Lisa Steele blog post), and left her to rest and warm up. I honestly thought that she would not make it.
To my surprise, she perked up and thrived. I became her surrogate mom and she wanted to spend all her time with me. I put a feeder and waterer in her little pen along with a “log” to climb on and a little stuffed dog for a new friend. Of course, she already had her feather duster (faux mom). Using my finger, I showed her how to eat and drink. They have a pretty good instincts and it didn’t take long. Soon she was eating well, drinking well, climbing all over her “log”, sitting on her dog and chirping for me! She would chirp, and chirp and chirp! I would go in to check on her thinking the worst and as soon as I put my hand in her little tub, she would chirp quietly and contentedly. She was lonely. She needed friends. Her little stuffed dog and faux mom just weren’t cutting it. After wracking my brain for awhile, it finally hit me! Chickens love to look at themselves in the mirror. I went to the dollar store and got four hand mirrors and taped them to the inside walls of her little tub home. My chick had friends! Every time she looked in a mirror she had a friend looking back at her. She would even huddle up next to a mirror by one of her new friends and rest quietly. She went about her business chirping contently. Life was good. She loved her new friends!
I knew that she would soon be outgrowing her little tub, so I had my son build me a nursery that I could put out in the chicken coop. It has four-sides that are screened in with chicken wire. It does not have a bottom, making it easier for me to clean and for the chicks to scratch around. It also has a hinged lid that makes it easy for me to access the chicks. I slid some small dowels through the chicken wire giving her some little roosts to climb and perch on. I wanted her surroundings to seem familiar so I used her same feeders, I hung her faux mom feather duster in the corner, and a couple of her mirror friends were hung on the sides, and I couldn’t forget her pink stuffed puppy. She seemed to adapt well to her new home and it was fun to watch all the bigger hens come and go as they curiously peaked in on her.
She had been in her new digs for a couple of days when I went to the feed store and lo and behold, they had just gotten in a shipment of baby chicks. I could get my baby chick some real friends! And I did. I got two Golden Comets to join my little orphan. They quickly became besties. Within a couple of weeks I added some additional chicks including some abandoned bantam chicks… Do you know how hard it is for a baby chick to get down off the top of a hay stack?!
Now there were even more friends!
Before I knew it, they were big enough to leave the nursery and join the rest of the flock. I tried to transition them to a ‘halfway house’ before making the big move, but chickens have a mind of their own and these three, like all eager teenagers, wanted to experience freedom. They have been well accepted by the rest of the flock and are thriving. At this time they seem to be inseparable. It will be interesting to see how long that bond between them lasts.
As winter approaches, my orphan is still doing well. I believe that soon, she will be a very handsome rooster!
Fresh Eggs Daily – Lisa Steele:
https://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2017/03/brooding-chicks-on-cheap-how-to-get.html