Health of New Hens - Suggestions?

[cmbookworm]

We are new to chickens and I think this might be my first post (although I've read several of the informative articles/threads here)

We got 8 Buff Orpington chicks in February and were told they were all ladies. HA! We wound up with 4 and 4. Since they were maturing, the roosters were fighting each other and wearing our girls out....so we traded 3 of the roos and got 3 new hens. So we have 5 birds (4 hens, 1 roo) in our original coop and peace has returned.

We have the 3 new RIR hens separated in a temporary space to be sure there are no health issues. Now that we have them home and can really observe them, they do appear a bit ratty. Their color is beautiful, but one is missing the back part of her comb and head feathers, along with wing feathers. Another is missing several wing feathers. I suspect the roos were wearing these ladies out and there wasn't much oversight of their behavior/feeding/overall care. However, one laid an egg yesterday! Our first! Our BOs aren't quite old enough yet, so we were pretty excited to see an egg on the second day our new hens were with us.

My basic question is...is there anything I can do to help restore them to optimum health and improve their look? Supplements? Treats? We think we have a nice set up for them (and they seemed pretty excited to be on grass!) and my instinct is with some time with just the 3 of them together with no one else fighting for food/space and no roos to bother them, they'll be fine. Our BO ladies are MUCH bigger than these ladies, although they are younger. I just want them to be in the best possible shape before we put them in the coop with our exiting flock. Any feedback would be appreciated!!

 

[aart]

The missing wing feathers could indicate they were trimmed or she may be molting (since you don't know her age?).
If the feathers are missing from the top of her wings near her back then it could be from the rooster as is the back of head and comb injury.


Good basic feed, fresh water...and time should do the trick. Watch the treats, they can dilute the main complete feed.

Here's my blurb on feeding:
I like to feed a 'flock raiser' 20% protein crumble to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and all molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat.

Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

Animal protein (mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided during molting and if I see any feather eating.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer.


Do some reading about integration to make your flock management more pleasant.

Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[cmbookworm]

The missing wing feathers are toward the back and most noticeable when they spread their wings out and flap a bit. I noticed it in 2 of the 3 new additions. From what the seller said, they're about a year old. They are a bit older than our existing birds, but far smaller. I hope they find safety in numbers!!

Thanks so much for the suggestions and advice. My gut was telling me that time would likely do the trick for them. They're eating a layer feed and I did give them mealworms yesterday and all seemed to enjoy them! They're quarantined away from our existing birds and will stay that way for a month (I'd done lots of reading on it before we got the newbies, thank goodness!).I was super excited to see an egg the day after we brought them home (nothing yesterday though). I figure with the hot weather we're having and them being in a new place, we probably wouldn't see a ton.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would examine the new birds carefully for lice, mites, nasel discharge or any other visable ailment. And I would consider why the other people got rid of them.

But personally, I would not unduly worry about integration. I think of it as a plus and minus game, and you have pretty good odds. When you are ready, just put them together. I would expect a few scuffels and then nothing. They may hang in separate subflocks until winter. Cold weather makes for good friends.

The 5 established birds have their home territory advantage, and their current position in that flock, + 5. The 3 newer girls would be a minus as they are new comers, however, they are older than the established flock, so that is a plus. I think that while the BO are larger, they tend to be much more laid back, while the RIR are smaller, they tend to be a bit more bossy... so basically that is a wash.

The fact that you are introducing a flock of 3 is also a big advantage, as in the 5 can only peck so many times, and with 3 new comer, they can spread it about, however, I really don't see this happening with the RIR.

Your BO should be close to laying, do not be surprised if the RIR's lay in the two days, and then skip a bit. The move may interrupt the egg cycle, the ones you are getting now, started in their other coop. However, I would not expect a long no-egg laying period, this time of year should be good egg laying.

Sounds like a very nice flock combination.

Mrs K

 

[cmbookworm]

Thanks, Mrs. K!

No nasal discharge or other obvious ailment. When looking for mites/lice, what exactly should I be looking for? I've not kept chickens before, so I have no clue. The previous guy is basically a local buy/sell/trade bird dealer, so he got rid of them to make a buck (and took our 3 roos in trade). He sells chickens, rabbits, turkeys, etc.

I'm expecting the BO's to lay soon...hopefully within a few weeks, but I've read they're late layers. I was thinking the one egg we got from the RIR was already in the chamber so to speak.

I'm excited overall though and am sure I'm fretting for no good reason! I've had several friends ask about eggs already, so I told my husband we might need a couple more birds to keep up with demand. He didn't think that was an awesome idea- lol. We have room for a couple more (and he likes the barred rocks), so I'm going to continue my flock-expansion lobby. Especially after we get our new girls integrated. I was planning to wait to full 30 days, but we'll see how it goes. Our existing flock was free ranging yesterday and was pretty close to where the new girls are....I hadn't seen them that far over on our property before, so I'm sure they're curious

 

[SClaire]

We are new to chickens and I think this might be my first post (although I've read several of the informative articles/threads here)

We got 8 Buff Orpington chicks in February and were told they were all ladies. HA! We wound up with 4 and 4. Since they were maturing, the roosters were fighting each other and wearing our girls out....so we traded 3 of the roos and got 3 new hens. So we have 5 birds (4 hens, 1 roo) in our original coop and peace has returned.

We have the 3 new RIR hens separated in a temporary space to be sure there are no health issues. Now that we have them home and can really observe them, they do appear a bit ratty. Their color is beautiful, but one is missing the back part of her comb and head feathers, along with wing feathers. Another is missing several wing feathers. I suspect the roos were wearing these ladies out and there wasn't much oversight of their behavior/feeding/overall care. However, one laid an egg yesterday! Our first! Our BOs aren't quite old enough yet, so we were pretty excited to see an egg on the second day our new hens were with us.

My basic question is...is there anything I can do to help restore them to optimum health and improve their look? Supplements? Treats? We think we have a nice set up for them (and they seemed pretty excited to be on grass!) and my instinct is with some time with just the 3 of them together with no one else fighting for food/space and no roos to bother them, they'll be fine. Our BO ladies are MUCH bigger than these ladies, although they are younger. I just want them to be in the best possible shape before we put them in the coop with our exiting flock. Any feedback would be appreciated!!

I've seen online homemade remedies but I haven't tried it myself. What is their diet like?

 

[cmbookworm]

Right now, they're eating Purina layer feed (I will probably switch to Nutrena when this bag is gone, just based on price) and I gave them mealworms yesterday as a treat. They're penned in a temporary area and there are lots of bugs/weeds to eat where they are. What they ate before, I can't begin to guess. They seemed thrilled with the grass though! Their color is beautiful

 

[Mrs. K]

One cannot pretend to quarantine. If they have gotten close to one another, then the quarantine is broken. Very few people are set up to truly quarantine. However, you don't have a genetically valuable flock, and if you are comfortable with the risk, and there is one, I would just put them together. Getting chickens from a wheeler dealer, would make me a bit more nervous than from a neighborhood lady with a flock. Those birds may have been exposed to who knows what.

Do a search on mites, and lice to see what they look like. Generally healthy looks healthy, but people have lost their original flock.

Mrs K

 

[SClaire]

Right now, they're eating Purina layer feed (I will probably switch to Nutrena when this bag is gone, just based on price) and I gave them mealworms yesterday as a treat. They're penned in a temporary area and there are lots of bugs/weeds to eat where they are. What they ate before, I can't begin to guess. They seemed thrilled with the grass though! Their color is beautiful

Ah ok I was just checking they were eating proper feed which it looks like they are

I'm guessing if they are anything like ours, they eat anything and everything!

Do you give them grass cuttings as well?

 

[cmbookworm]

Good point, Mrs. K. Agreed- true separation is very difficult. We have the space, but with our original flock free ranging, it's more of a challenge. I agree there's a risk, but I'll probably be willing to hedge my bets at some point if I don't see any issues develop. Since he put our roosters in with his existing birds, I got the impression he wasn't too worried about any contamination issues. You are right- they're not genetically valuable, but more sentimentally valuable I don't want to intentionally put any of them at risk. I do appreciate the advice though!

The new girls look healthy overall, aside from being little raggedy, red dust mops. SClaire- we don't have a ton of grass clippings, but do put them in the coop/run and compost bin when we do have them.