2 week old feral chick

[overwelmedd]

I rescued a 2 week old chick 4 days ago and have been feeding Exact via baggie feeding (found info on another site) which has been working well, although very messy. This is my first time with a chick. I have another tamed feral non flying female (wing damage) which has been with me about 3 years. Initially Brute(thought she was male until non fertile eggs were layed) didn't want anything to do with the chick. Tonight I put them near each other and Brute began to preen the chick. My question is this. How much time should it take before knowing whether the chick is safe from attack? Would it have happened already? Is it possible that Brute could start producing milk and feed the chick and direct her to seed eating when the time is right? This chick which I believe to be male and Brute will continue to live indoors with me as family members. Any info is appreciated.

[TAWhatley]

You will have to keep a close eye on Brute with the baby. It sounds like everything is OK, but that can change in a heartbeat. Don't leave them alone together and unsupervised until you are very sure that Brute is OK with the baby. Brute won't produce crop milk to feed the baby unless she had been brooding eggs of her own (fake or real) that would have hatched around the time the baby came on the scene. The baby is also probably too large for Brute to fall for thinking it could be her baby.

Terry

[overwelmedd]

Brute has been preening the baby very nicely and snuggling it under her feathers (brooding?). She even started collecting nest twigs today when I took her outside to releave herself. She doesn't poop in her cage when she has an egg and apparently isn't going to do it with the chick with her either. LOL she even tried to pull a plug out of my hand last night when I took the chick away for feeding.