Hooray !!!! Our first birth.... Help !!!!

Noddy · **Posted:** Sat Jul 05, 2008 12:45 pm

After many "attempts" (including fertile eggs given to us) I discovered this morning that we have our first ever little baby. :-D

Despite many weeks of overnight fogs and overnight rain, I discovered an opened egg and a little baby silkie this morning, which I think may have been born in the past few days.
So far we have removed the wee one from the other chooks and mum and placed her in a plastic container about 50cmx50cmx30cmdeep, in a spare bedroom of our house.
We have also removed Mum and the 6 remaining unhatched eggs which may or may not be fertile and placed them in a wooden box we use for transporting next to the chick's plastic box.
I have placed a reading lamp to throw light and heat in and placed some lucerne over newspaper on the base and a small container of water and a small amount of chick starter in as well.

I have looked through a few of the threads on here for answers but am unsure and pretty nervous and excited so my questions are as follows (apologies if they have already been answered elsewhere):

What should I feed the chick ?
What temperature should I be trying for ?
currently temps in our area drop to around 2-5 degrees overnight but sit around 20-23 by day.
What other things should I do ?
The little chick seems to be relatively happy and is chirping away, trying to hide in the corner and being a little unco.
I will post the pics in the gallery shortly.

Thanks for any answers... :-D

Egglive · **Joined:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:58 am **Posts:** 267

Congratulations on your little baby.

If the hen hatched that one successfully, I would have left her where she was and partitioned off the area so she was not disturbed. Now that she has been disturbed there is a chance that she may not keep sitting on the other eggs. Try not to disturb her any more if she is still sitting. She needs to get off the nest once per day to go to the toilet, eat and drink. The eggs will be fine while she does this.

If you hang a light over the box so that the chick can get close for warmth, or move away if it gets too hot that will be fine. I never worry about the exact temperature. If it huddles near the light and goes to sleep, then all is well. If it keeps cheeping loudly and calling, then it's too cold. If you have a reading lamp, make sure it's pointing into a corner, quite low, and making a warm spot. But the chick can still get away if it wants to. Put a shallow water container up the other end. Make sure the container isn't deep enough for the baby to drown in.

County Lodge · **Posted:** Sat Jul 05, 2008 5:42 pm

And if you have any marbles or pebbles put them in the water dish so the chick does not drown. One lonely chick may cry a bit. If you have a small clean soft toy I would also put that in so it has something to cuddle up to as he/she does not have any mates. Chick starter in a shallow dish as well is a good start. Perhaps shallow and big enough for it to get in and have a scratch while it is learning to eat. 60Watt bulb in the reading lamp for the first 2 weeks will be fine then change it to 40 watt. put some cardboard or something over the top just to keep the heat in but not set fire to anything.

Congratulations Noddy.

Rubberparrot · **Posted:** Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:22 pm

[One lonely chick may cry a bit. If you have a small clean soft toy I would also put that in so it has something to cuddle up to as he/she does not have any mates. .[/quote]

A clean feather duster it can huddle under like a mother is worth a go too.
Tape the handle to the side of the box or be prepared with the video camera as it move around the box with the duster on it :lol:

Shanna

Rubberparrot · **Posted:** Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:32 pm

Hi noddy I just had a look at your set up for the chick and I have to agree with Moonshadow's comment the light bulb really needs to be in the box say about 7 to 10 cms from the floor so the chick can get in under it for warmth, try covering the lampshade and bulb with red cellophane so the chick can get warm but isn't living in perpetual "daylight" which I am sure isn't healthy. The lamp where it is won't supply sufficient heat when you think about the hen's body temp of approx 38degrees this is what you need to replicate roughly for the chick. If you are going to artificially brood the chick it'll be easier to keep the temp up inside the house in a heated room.
To encourage the chick to eat try tapping you finger in the food as if you are pecking and use whatever your chook call is same for water. Chick starter is fine and you can mince up finely some fresh veges like corn peas ect don't leave these in for long as they'll spoil quickly with the heat from the lamp
Good luck
Shanna

Noddy · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:51 am

Thank you everyone for the replies.
They have been very helpful.

Late yesterday afternoon, I made a few slight renovations to the Chick House which included changing the light/heat source to a 75watt "softone" globe hanging on an extension lead into the box.
We also added a hot water bottle wrapped in an old pillowcase.
The chick can almost touch the globe if she wants to when on top of the hot water bottle.
I have also added a thermometer and rigged up a Manila folder across half of the box to retain some heat but also allow some air movement.
This has kept the temp around 30 degrees or so on the wall of the Chick House.
We put a little Chick Starter in a plastic lid from a jar and used a similar but smaller lid for some water.

As far as we can tell she is happy and content and is not chirping much at all.

We originally moved her, the mum and the eggs away from the main Silkie house due to it being about 1.5 metres off the ground and with little protection to stop the wee one from wandering over the edge. In addition yesterday's weather was not great.
The mum seems to have returned to the eggs in her new box as well.

Thank you again for your help

I have posted a pic of the renovations in the gallery.

greenaus · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:17 pm

Does it open its eyes?

I haven't seen its eyes open in any of the photos up to now (late on 06/07). But...I'm not there. It could be extremely healthy. I hope the other eggs hatch for you. If not, this one might have been best left with the mother.

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

G'day Noddys ,Well done

,The only prob could be a single chick , may fret . spoil it a bit and it will help (as if you won't do this) :lol:

If you were a bit closer I'd give you a freind for him/her . Hopefully more have hatched by now , Either way . If mum will except little chicky back ,I'd stick it back under mothers wing

and get some Chicken starter , Mum will enjoy some as well after three weeks of brooding . and it will do her good. Great Work .What have you named it ?

Noddy · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:49 am

The little one has had her eyes open pretty much from the time I first found her. We tried putting her back with her mum but mum was pecking at her so we removed her again. It may be that Mum was trying to protect the existing eggs or it may be that we stuffed up by removing the chick too soon.
Both are on chick starter and the little one has worked out how to eat and drink and leave little "land mines".
If none of the other eggs hatch by the end of the week we will probably buy a little day-week old chick from the produce shop nearby.

When Mrs Noddy makes a little chirpy noise the little one chirps back...

Noddy junior has named the chick "Blarf" in honour of a character in some video game.

Thank you again for all of the help :-D

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

Well done

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