Loneliness can affect anyone, including baby chicks, these birds are usually social creatures who don’t do too well alone.
If you’re raising a baby chick, and you can sense that it is lonely, then this article will be of help to you
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How to make a baby chick not feel lonely?
Chickens are quite social animals, the birds enjoy interacting with their flock mates and do quite well when living in flocks. But, they will become lonely if they don’t have any social interaction.
While it isn’t recommended that you keep a single chick there are ways to help keep the bird occupied and fulfill its need for social interaction.
Here are ways to keep a baby chick from feeling lonely.
Use a mirror:
Animals, chicks included, can’t tell that they are looking at themselves when looking into a mirror, they think that another animal is looking back at them. You can use this to your advantage
Keep the bird from feeling lonely by leaving a mirror in the bird’s cage. The bird will look at itself in the mirror, interact with its reflection, and will think that it is socializing with an entirely different bird.
Give it a feather duster:
Chicks can also be entertained by feather dusters. It seems that these birds see feather dusters as other chicks and will interact with the feather duster as if it is another bird.
If you aren’t around then you can leave a clean feather duster in the chicks cage to keep the bird from being lonely.
Keep the bird in your home:
While it isn’t recommended that you keep only one chick at a time, some single chicken owners say that their lone chick is happy because the bird is kept in the house with them. You can do this too.
Being around humans can make the bird feel less lonely, the bird will get to interact with different people throughout the day and this will help keep it from feeling lonely.
Give it something to do:
If there isn’t anyone in the house with your bird then toys or something else may keep the bird entertained while everyone is out. Something to do includes toys, puzzle feeders, and cabbages that she can pick at.
Warnings:
Because chickens are social creatures they don’t do well being alone.
If the chick is left alone then it will cry out to try to get its flock members to come to it or to try to get its flock members to cry out to it so it knows where to go.
It may also see you as a flock member. If no one comes to its aid then signs of distress will come up
Signs of distress include restlessness, feather plucking, decreased energy, a loss of appetite, and a loss of curiosity.
The bird can only be left alone for brief periods of time, if left alone for too long then it will become very unhappy.
If all of the above interventions don’t relieve your bird of her loneliness then you may have to rehouse the chick so it gets to live and grow amongst its kind.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chick Keeps Flipping On Back And Shaking, Chick Keeps Flipping On Back, Will A Single Chick Survive?, Why Is One Chicken Always Alone, Why Is My Duck Laying On Its Side?, How To Get A Wild Duck To Trust You, Why Do Ducks Splash In The Water, Why Is My Female Duck Squeaking, Male Duck Making High-Pitched Noise