new arrival tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be collecting a chick, unknown sex/breed...blue egg so could be araucana or cream legbar? Father unknown!

Long story short someone I know decided to borrow an incubator to see if she could hatch out some eggs that had been laid in her stable without giving a lot of thought what to do if any hatched. She now has a chick, 3 weeks old today, and heard that I have a few chickens, so asked if I could take it on.

I explained that I'm not set up for rearing chicks but said I'd give it a go. I've managed to get hold of a large hamster cage 22"x13"x10", bottom half solid, top half caged, I've got 3 clip-on feeders in which I plan to put chick crumb, water & finch-size oyster shell, I'll use Aubiose as floor cover and use a 60W anglepoise lamp for heat as I don't have a heat lamp. I'll also be getting it sexed at the vets before bringing it home.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

Looks like an escapee from Jurassic Park very cute

Hi CM.  The chick doesn't need oystershell, not until it lays (if it's a she!)

Breed and sex are a bit of a mystery, but the gene for blue eggs is dominant, so the mother may have been a hybrid herself if the chick came out of a blue shell.

Thanks for that, Casey - I wasn't sure if it would need something in the way of grit to break down the crumb...

It's pretty big for it's age. I just asked someone who used to keep bantams how old she thought it was, she reckoned from size & feathering about 10 weeks. She was shocked when I said it was only 3 weeks. It may well be Jurassic after all! Very active & vocal, likes to be out of the cage & sat on a shoulder - maybe some vulture gene lurking there...   

how nice of you to help.  I read an article in the local blog this week that an infant school had hatched chicks as part of a school project and at the end of the article it stated that 'they hoped when they were outgrowing the box parents would volunteer to take them home.  Rather irresponsible I think!

Usually on these projects the deal is the farmer takes incubator and chicks back at end. If you want to keep chicks , you pay for them, if not he's had them hatched hassle free.

My children's school have just done it and the chicks went back to the farm on Friday