Well what a morning this is turning into! When I was writing a post earlier I looked up & saw a tiny weeny field mouse sitting in the printer staring at me so sat here without moving till hubby came back from feeding chickens, of course he frightened it & it ran away & then we couldn`t find it where it went. Then he said come & look what we`ve got & there in the chicken run is a hen with a day old chick, our first ever & she`s still sitting on another egg!!

So now what do we do???? They are seperate from the others but what & how do we feed/water it & how long do we keep them seperate for?, till the chicks a lot bigger I think but not sure! Any one know please???
By the way, it`s gorgeous!!!!

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine,
What do you feed your chickens? There are chick crumbs you can get over here (small-size hen pellets, and you can get organic ones) or you can grind ordinary grain into smaller pieces. Finely chopped hardboiled egg ( cannibalism!) is good in an emergency. Water in a shallow dish (maybe with a pebble in it) so it can't drown itself even if it tries! I kept ours separated from the others for about a week or two till mother hen had firmly bonded with her brood, enough for them to flee to her at the first hint of danger.
They're so cute, aren't they?!

Ooooo cutest thing I saw J/G. :):)
Well we feed them wheat & whole corn but they don`t really like that much but they go mad for the ground corn so we mix it with whole corn & the wheat. Also sometimes I boil spud & veg peelings with some rice & bread thrown in to a mush & mix that with their feed(they love that as well) but mostly do that in the colder/rainy weather. Bernards just gone this minute to see if they`ve got chick food but sounds like the crushed corn might be OK what do you think? Don`t know about the pellets but he`s having a look for those as well. Do we feed/water it straight away & how/when can we tell the sex?? Oh dear, gave up thinking we`d ever raise any cos the hens would sit on the eggs but never hatched for some reason.
Don`t know about organic tho J/G bad enough trying to get that for ourselves let alone the chickens!
Many thanks,I`m so excited :) :)

Christine, Spain.

Hi, I used to put some food in for them after 24 hours - the mother hen had water anyway. It's so sweet watching her picking up and dropping bits of food and clucking/croodling to her chicks, telling them what to do ("Come on, look at this, just try it, yes, pick it up like this...")

As for sexing them - from a few weeks old cockerels tend to have a larger comb developing; other then than, I've only known for sure when they start crowing!!
:)

Right well Bern`s come back with what looks like crushed tiny pellet things J/G! :) Think there`re what you`ve described, so we`ll put some in tomorrow for it. Guess where she is tho...in a big flower pot!!!! :) :) Couldn`t expect her to make it easy for us & go in a nesting box could we?? Think we`re going to take them out & put them in one of the nesting boxes were theres more room & it`ll be safer of a night for them.
Have to stop myself going & peeking all the time at it, it`s really sweet :) Thanks J/G :)

Christine, Spain.

aaawwwww congratulations christine, bet its so cute :)

Hey chicks been drinking water already :) Using a shallow lid so should be safe I hope!

Christine, Spain.

Yes something shallow like that is fine! Have you named it yet (go on, I bet you have! ;) )

But of course I have J/G :) Henrietta, cos if she`s a cock it`ll be Henry & if a hen well Henny :) :)

Christine, Spain.

ps forgot to tell you earlier, she`s white!! then by this afternoon she had a little yellow bit on her head, but mums keeping a real close rein on her now & got her tucked up undertheath her all the time & she broke the other egg while we were out. They`re both asleep now in a big dog cage :)

Christine, Spain.

I used to have a lovely bantam hen called Percy. (When she was a chick she just looked like a Percy! :o ) She was very tame and would settle down on the dogs (or me!) if we were sunbathing, and sit on our laps when we watched tv. She laid one egg, then promptly drowned in the fishpond. :( I've never really got over her loss.....

Oh poor J/G! Funny enough our cock is a bantam! Couple of yrs ago a fox got in & he was one of the few it didn`t get, he flew into the trees! Came down the next morning when hubby was cleaning up.

Christine, Spain.

My mum called her duck, ida as in ida down. My partners mums ducks were crispy and aramatic.

LOL@ Emma

Christine, Spain.

As well as all the other advise you have had, you must remember that any rat, cat or corvid will take the chick easily & so you need to have it in a really well proofed area. Also keep well away from other hens as they enjoy killing chicks! :(
Putting any adult poultry food in a blender is fine as an emergency ration & a jam pot lid etc for water is also good. Chicks can fend for themselves food wise for the 1st 48 hours as they are born with their own sandwiches!....but after that they need feeding. if 2nd egg not hatched within another 24 hours you should candle it & dispose of it if empty.

<<So now what do we do???? >>

Send for the sage and onion stuffing!

And by the time it reaches Spain, the chick will be a roast not a tapas. :D Just a joke Christine, honest!

LOL @ L/Lei :)
It`s not even big enough to pass as tapa yet! :) It`s so so tiny.

Christine, Spain.

LOL@ John!!! :)
Christine, Spain.

Hi Sam, what on earth`s a corvid???? And what kind of sandwich are they born with???? Didn`t see anything attached to chick this morning :)
We got one of the big dog cages out this afternoon & put a smalller nesting box inside it, then put rigid plastic half way up(we can take it off in the day) round the outside cos chick could fit thru if it got out of inner box & thats inside the chicken hut! I`ve got a largish vari kennel that might be better, have to hunt it out tho tomorrow.
The hen had broken the other egg when we got back, so guess she didn`t want to look after 2!! Mind she`s looking after her very well I think, lot more than this morning. She`s got chick all tucked up underneath her & waits for us to lift water dish to her but refused to eat & hasn`t got out at all. You know we`ve had chickens for more than 8yrs & this is the first one thats hatched, usually they sit on them for days & then one day just get fed up & leave the eggs!

Christine, Spain.

Christine....Corvid, ie of corvidae family (rook, crow, magpie, jackdaw etc). Chicks are born with an egg scack attached to them which keeps them going for about 48 hours (i.e they come with their own sandwiches! :) ) Thats how it is possible to transport day old chicks in huge, tightly populated containers, eg commercial poultry etc without food/water.

Oh right Sam!!! Had visions of it being some sort of wild thing that might be lurking about lol :) Don`t have magpies in this area but do have the others, although they only stay round immediate area for breeding then they go bit further afield end of summer. Had a laugh bout them coming with own *sandwich* :)
Well chicks doing fine, hen settles down with it at least 1+half before sunset so we just have to make them safe. Eating, drinking & followng mum round who keeps scratching up everything in sight & copying her. It`s very tiny tho but really cute. Oh & they`re away from the others & in a biggish vari kennel that we take the top off first thing in morning & put back on in the night to make sure they`re warm, very cosy they are :)

Thanks everyone, I`ll let you know how chick gets on :)

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine
Glad to hear of your little chick :) Really cheered me up as have been a bit ill for the last few days but back on track nearly now and this post cheered me up immensely. Have fun and dont forget the photo :D :)

JeanG's bit about cannibalism made me laugh for the first time for days too - thanks JeanG :D :D

Gina :p

Morning folks, just an updat on little chick, s/he is 2 wks old now & doing so well :) Has grown a little bit, still small tho & mother is really really very protective of it!! It`s out with the others & mum chases the others away, mum goes in to roost a little before the others at night & chick sleeps under her chirping away, very sweet :) Hubby got the pellets but none of them would eat them so we`ve stayed with whole & crushed corn & wheat & also soaked brown bread & any veggy peelings from me. Oh the the cock pecked hubby on the leg a couple days ago & drew blood, never done that before.......maybe his fatherly insticts have come out???? :D

Glad it cheered you up Gina, how`s Molly doing now by the way?

Christine, Spain.

Hi ya.

Nice to hear about the chick - still want a photo though :D

Will say again as posted it once before that I am now up and well cos had a bad back - not that I want any sympathy you understand LOL :D

Molly is very well - Cliff took her to have her stitches out yesterday - massive long scar - and nothing found - and back to her normal self although she was a tiny bit sick this morning (bile) but may have been fed too early last night. That is what I am hoping anyway.

Thanks for asking and nice to be back to catch up on the news.