baby chick brought to my back door

[SilverBirds]

How old should it be when I bring it out?
I was thinking about putting it inside a medium-sized dog crate for just a couple of hours at a time maybe. It's used to living in air conditioning with a stuffed animal and heating pad to snuggle with at night. It's not been outside and it's 95 degrees hot out there!

I have very similar temps to you and my chicks are outside permanently at 3-4 weeks old. She's old enough that she can be spending most of her time outdoors now. When placing the cage somewhere, make sure it's not in direct sunlight.

Not sure how I'm going to get it into the crate and back out of the crate safely without it jumping out of my hands and maybe running away?

Chickens are really easy to pick up. Is she tame?

Also... I'm concerned because there is a wild hen in the yard with one baby chick. She used to have 10 babies, but there are two opossums that show up at night and so now she only has 1 baby left. (I tried to get her to take this baby chick that first week but she shrugged it off and it didn't know enough to follow her and the chick came running back to me)...(maybe that's a good thing cuz the opossum might have eaten it otherwise)... Anyway, the wild hen sleeps with her one chick in my carport where the light is on all the time. (There is also a wild rooster in the backyard trees...who doesn't protect them at all)!

Opossums usually attack at night, as you've already stated. As long as your chick is in a safe and secure place she shouldn't be at risk
Roosters are more of alarms than attack guards. Very few roos will go out to protect his flock, and the ones that do have very short lifespans.

My chicken house and enclosed coop where my 3 hens and 1 rooster live is at the furthest back of my yard. Eventually this is where I'll want Pumpkin to live.

I would start introducing pumpkin to your flock via the see-but-no-touch method. Put her cage as close to the coop as you can so both your established flock and your chick can start becoming acquainted. When Pumpkin is about 8-10 weeks old you can start to integrate her into the flock. Since she has not been raised with any other chickens and she will be the only newcomer it's possible she will be heavily targeted by your older birds. You'll need to monitor them for the first few days to make sure she is able to get away from any torment and does not get injured.

 

[Yardmom]

Many people put chicks in with older hens as soon as they do not require heat. Your chick does not need heat, but you need to make sure it doesn't get to warm.
With a single chick you do need to be cautious when placing it with your older pullers as they might consider it an intruder.
What is your setup like? Anyway to put the chick in the coop inside a seperate area? It needs to be where the others can see it, but not attack it .

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Has anyone read my post today? I feel like no one is actually reading or replying to my question.

I want to get this young 5-week old chicken to eventually live in the coop with my other birds. Do I wait until it is full-grown?

you should wait until it is a similar size. some people at that point would toss it in and let the birds sort themselves out, and some people put the new chicken in a crate and let the others get used to seeing it for a week or two, then let it into the area with the other birds. it's a bit less violent the second way.

 

[GlicksChicks]

Has anyone read my post today? I feel like no one is actually reading or replying to my question.

I want to get this young 5-week old chicken to eventually live in the coop with my other birds. Do I wait until it is full-grown?

Judging by the fact that you have adult chickens out there, I would say that you do not want her out therw until she/him is closer to their size.

The one thing you can do though is put her/him into the coop inside of that cage it is already in. The other chickens can look at it but they can't get to it. Keep it like that until the chick gets close to the size of the other chickens.

I would suggest trying to catch those wild chickens.

 

[koko365]

I have very similar temps to you and my chicks are outside permanently at 3-4 weeks old. She's old enough that she can be spending most of her time outdoors now. When placing the cage somewhere, make sure it's not in direct sunlight.

Chickens are really easy to pick up. Is she tame?

Opossums usually attack at night, as you've already stated. As long as your chick is in a safe and secure place she shouldn't be at risk
Roosters are more of alarms than attack guards. Very few roos will go out to protect his flock, and the ones that do have very short lifespans.

I would start introducing pumpkin to your flock via the see-but-no-touch method. Put her cage as close to the coop as you can so both your established flock and your chick can start becoming acquainted. When Pumpkin is about 8-10 weeks old you can start to integrate her into the flock. Since she has not been raised with any other chickens and she will be the only newcomer it's possible she will be heavily targeted by your older birds. You'll need to monitor them for the first few days to make sure she is able to get away from any torment and does not get injured.

Thank you so very much for your reply. Pumpkin is easy to pick up but she prefers to perch on my hand ... always concerned she'll jump off into the dogs face, so I try to use two fingers as sort of a leash on both sides of her neck.

This wild rooster gets very quiet/silent whenever the opossums are around, otherwise it is koka-dooing nearly every hour thru the night. When it's silent is when I know somethings up and often go outside with my flashlight to help protect the hen and her chick. The wild rooster sleeps in the tree over my chicken house/coop.

I really appreciate your advice. I'm going to lay some botanical hay at the bottom of the dog crate and begin to put Pumpkin outside during the day... (not comfortable with her being out there at night just yet). I'll put the crate right next to the coop so she can begin to get to know others and they can get to know her. My coop is in the shade nearly all the time now because of some overhanging tree limbs. Not sure if that is good or bad, it is hot, but I would have to get someone to trim them back for me as I don't have a ladder or tools to cut tree-limbs. I'll post some pictures later to share.

Thank you again!

 

[koko365]

Judging by the fact that you have adult chickens out there, I would say that you do not want her out therw until she/him is closer to their size.

The one thing you can do though is put her/him into the coop inside of that cage it is already in. The other chickens can look at it but they can't get to it. Keep it like that until the chick gets close to the size of the other chickens.

I would suggest trying to catch those wild chickens.

Thanks!
I was concerned about that wild hen. She would come to my yard every day to visit the chickens in my coop and thought she had taken a fancy to my rooster. She often slept in a tree above the coop, but then she would go away for a couple of days then come back off and on...and then low and behold she showed up with all the babies and with her own rooster-friend.

I have no clue how to catch a wild chicken! (feel badly that it's lost most of it's babies), but it only lets me get as close as maybe 3 or 4 feet. It's baby is younger than Pumpkin by maybe three weeks. (guesstimate). I always have fresh water in the yard and put down scratch and a little crumbles for it along with about a cup of bird seed for the blue jays and doves outside.

 

[koko365]

you should wait until it is a similar size. some people at that point would toss it in and let the birds sort themselves out, and some people put the new chicken in a crate and let the others get used to seeing it for a week or two, then let it into the area with the other birds. it's a bit less violent the second way.

Thank you for replying.

I'm going to try the crate inside the coop, but that won't be until a few more weeks down the road. That's providing my being able to get the crate into the narrow coop door, else it might be a bird-cage size confinement when the time comes.

I got frustrated with this site and went to YouTube videos looking for advice (something I had not done before) and was pleased to learn about doing exactly what you're saying. The videos were suggesting 16weeks or later and this baby is only 5 weeks old just yet. (Didn't know there were so many Chicken keeping videos before)! lol. I'm glad to discover that source of information now too.

 

[GlicksChicks]

Thanks!
I was concerned about that wild hen. She would come to my yard every day to visit the chickens in my coop and thought she had taken a fancy to my rooster. She often slept in a tree above the coop, but then she would go away for a couple of days then come back off and on...and then low and behold she showed up with all the babies and with her own rooster-friend.

I have no clue how to catch a wild chicken! (feel badly that it's lost most of it's babies), but it only lets me get as close as maybe 3 or 4 feet. It's baby is younger than Pumpkin by maybe three weeks. (guesstimate). I always have fresh water in the yard and put down scratch and a little crumbles for it along with about a cup of bird seed for the blue jays and doves outside.

Maybr put some scratch/chicken feed into a dog crate or something with a door that you can close behind the hen. Wait until she goes in to get the food and then close the door behind her. There is a wild chicken caught!