My hen left her chick. How do I hand-raise an abandoned baby chick?

You can hand raise baby birds if needed. It’s best to do as much reading as you can about the specific type of bird and what they eat. The parents will usually come back unless they have been injured. If you do end up taking the baby, she will likely be dehydrated so prepare a lightly sugared water to slowly syringe feed her. You will also need to keep her warm. Use either a red heat lamp or hot water bottle. Make sure it does not get too hot as a hatchling cannot move away from it if she gets too hot. You will need to hand feed her insects. Pick small worms like meal worms until she is bigger. I hope this helps!

As long as the parents are taking care of the hatchling themselves, you shouldn't need to do anything as they will keep it warm by laying with it in the nest, and feed it as needed. It also seems like you are feeding lots of nutrition-filled items to your birds as well! It is a good idea to have some baby bird food and a syringe on hand that you can mix up if you need to help with feeding, or if the parents aren't caring for it. Most pet stores carry this and will have feeding instructions on the side of the bag. Congrats on the baby bird! It sounds like it and its parents are in good hands.

Keep the nest box clean. You can gently scoop the chicks up in a paper towel, clean the box, add clean nesting material and return the chicks. Make sure Noshi is eating a healthy. Ideally, she should be eating a commercial pelleted diet such as Exact or Pretty Bird. You can supplement with a fortified seed mix and fresh fruits and vegetables. Monitor the chicks for full crops (which means they are being fed) and weight gain. If necessary, a commercial hand feeding formula can be used to supplement the chicks.

If this is a wild bird the best option would be to get it to a wildlife rehabilitator asap. If a pet species you need to know what species in order to feed approriately. You need a hand rearing formula suited to that species. Keep in a "nest" with supplemental heat and humidity as it cannot regulate body temperature yet. Relative humidity greater than 50% is required initially. Hatchlings (no feathers) should be maintained at 95° - 97°F (35° - 36°C). An incubator is usually recommended for hatchlings. The yolk sac should provide nutrition the first 12 or so hours but but it will then need to be fed every 2 hours around the clock Here is some basic info https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/hand-feeding-baby-birds

You can clean out the nesting box as needed. Gently scoop the chicks out and place them in a clean temporary box. Expect mom to complain and peck. Scrape the box and fill with clean nesting material. Return the chicks to the box afterwards. If the hen is not feeding them adequately, you will need to supplement​ them or pull them for handraising. Use a commercial handfeeding formula. Follow label directions. If you don't have experience hand feeding, ask your avian veterinarian or an experienced breeder. If this is Boo Boo's first clutch, the loss of some of the chicks may be due to inexperience.

Chicken eggs hatch in 21 days using incubation from an electric incubator or from the mother. If they are not with the mother and not being incubated, they likely won't hatch. Once the chicks are born, they need a heat source from a lamp or mother or else they will get too cold and not survive. A heat source such as a lamp should be used and placed so that the chicks can move toward and away from it as needed to maintain the correct temperature. As they get older, you'll want to gradually lower the temperature in their brooder until it matches outside ones.

Thanks for reaching out about Essie. It is also possible that one chick hatched earlier than the other, so is out begging and growing faster. Also, first time parents can be confused on how to care for multiple chicks. Heat support is very important as the babies have not feathers and can not moderate internal body temperatures. If parents are still trying to care for the baby, maybe supplemental hand feeding could help. A local veterinarian with bird experience or a bird store can show you have to hand feed and provide rearing formula. It is very difficult for the inexperienced bird owner to hand rear birds successfully. Good luck.