New to Me Chickens...

[texasmomma]

Our neighbor gave us her chickens. There is one white rooster and 5 hens. 4 of the hens are a spotted brown color and the fifth one is kind of a whitish color. She has greenish feet.

For the first two nights, we kept the chickens in our shed. We finally got their coop to our house and put it up. It is a 10 X 10 dog run with chicken wire around the bottom. I also have chicken wire on the top and a "roof". There are 4 nesting boxes, but they just poop in those.

The food I was given is 3 grain hen scratch. They like it ok, but I have been supplementing with kitchen scraps. They love tomatoes. The white hen seems to be the scrappiest and will steal food from the other girls.

I have no idea how old the chickens are. I ask my neighbor and she doesn't tell me. We have lived her for 2 years and she has at least had the rooster that long.

I know the feed is wrong and I am working on getting them some organic feed. I covered some melon I cut up for them with duckweed for protein. They are in a coop in my backyard that is grass for the floor, right now. I plan to move them around our yard in a tractor when I figure more of this out. We have about an acre.

My biggest issue is that all of the hens have some feathers missing on their backs to some extent. One has some redness in her skin where the feathers are missing. There is one hen that I am especially concerned about. The red part of her head is not straight up. She has a ton of missing feathers on her back. There is a gash on either side of her back that is quite deep. I am assuming this is from the rooster. There are so many feathers missing that when I look down on her, I can see air in between her side and her wing. If she lifts her wing, her entire side (on both sides) is bare. I am worried about her. I have seen the other hens peck at her, but nothing super serious. She did have a little bit of blood on one of the gashes yesterday, but I didn't see it happen.

They have been in their former coop in our yard for two nights. The rooster crows quite a bit now that he is outside. My neighbors are not quite excited about having the neighborhood rooster closer to them.

My plan is to get these hens healthy and then add a couple more. I really want chickens for eggs, not just pets. For now, I need to get better feed, I need to figure out a better way to keep them watered and fed as well. Formerly, they had a big bucket for water. I have water in three places - a small bowl, a 1 gallon bucket and in a pan. Same for the feed, have it on a cookie sheet. I wasn't given a feeder.

I am open to suggestions, help, etc.

Thanks!

Susie

 

[Mrs. K]

I would suggest going and buying layer feed. It is scientifically designed for laying hens, and they will do fine on it. If the organic thing is important to you, go right ahead, but any feed store or ag store will have layer feed. Hen scratch is a good food too, but it is low in protien and high in energy.

I generally in the winter before I shut up my hens, feed them hen scratch so that they go to bed with a full crop when it gets cold.

Beware of too much scrap food. Really, I do not ever buy human food for my hens, but they do get all the food scraps from preparation and scraps. It gives them enough variety and is not too much. They really need to be eating mostly the layer feed, and you can get them to do that by mixing the scratch in it, or putting some scraps in it.

A bowl with an inside lip will save you a ton of feed. It helps keep the feed in the bowl, and it does not get spread all over the dirt and trampled in. I was not a believer in this until I started using an old hubcap, and the difference was amazing.

I use a tin waterer in the summer, it stays cleaner, and it holds a lot more water. In the summer time, water and shade are vitally important. Chickens can die of the heat, I think more easily than the cold. In the winter, I use the black rubber bowls, so that in the morning, I can knock out the ice, and refill with water.

In the summer the birds need more water, in the winter more feed.

As to the marks on the hens, if you don't like them, you really need to get rid of the rooster. I think they look more ghastly than they are. I free range, and I have a rooster, and my hens do look just like you described. All of mine looked terrible last summer, and all healed up and refeathered up nicely before winter, so I quit worrying about it. If you just want eggs, and can rebuy chicks as you need them to replace hens in your flock, you do not need a rooster. And if your neighbors are against the roo, it might be best for neighborhood relationships, at least until you give them a taste for fresh eggs

Hope this helps, it is a fascinating hobby. I made a lot of mistakes over the years, but I just love having a flock. I find if I think of it as a flock, I don't get so attached and into the pet statis.

welcome to the boards, MrsK

 

[texasmomma]

Thanks for the reply!

I have a friend that may want to take the rooster. If not, then I will see if I can get someone else to take him.

I did buy some layer feed yesterday. They seemed to take to it just fine. They had some white in their poop this morning, but I've read that is uric acid. Hope it's ok.

My husband had the next two days off and is going to deal with the feeder and the waterer. I think he is also going to make a chicken tractor. We have one girl that tries to escape every time we open the door. I let her out yesterday for a while. Actually, opened the door for any of them. The roo went after her a couple of times, but mostly he just complained. She had a blast digging holes in my flower bed, which is actually ok since the flower bed was ruined a couple of years ago and this darned heat is not helping.

Thank you for the reassurance about the feathers. Another hen now has more feathers pulled out of her. And, it looks like one of the hens is starting to molt as she is losing feathers on her underside of her neck. So, I dunno. This is much harder than I thought.

My neighbors may never get any eggs as we go through at least 6-12 a day. These chickens will just supplement my other egg supply. With 6 kids needing breakfast, we go through a lot!

Again, thank you MrsK.

Susie

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Just a tip if you get some new chicks to add with your hens make sure you switch your feed to a starter /grower nonmedicated and have oyster shell in a seperate dish for the hens to get what they need. The layer has alot of calcium and isnt good on the younger non laying pullets. Some people have said they have given it to a mixed age flock and done fine but this is just my experience and advice given down the line chicken farmers in the family and around my town. I know its tough to see a hen all scratched up

poor girls the rooster really does do some damage. If you are not interested in breeding and hatching your own then I agree with finding the guy a new home. home made feeders and waterers are easy and inexpensive to make, I have done many google searches and found many smart ideas

. My birds love a treat of kitchen scraps or leftover fruit that my daughter didnt finish. I give it as a treat only, I'm not looking to fatten mine up, they are just pets and egg suppliers. There is nothing wrong with treating the chickens with something yummy since they are giving you yummy eggs, just try to think of it like its the same as us eating candy all day although super yummy its unhealthy. Now if I could just work that on myself and get rid of the junk it would be great

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your hens...

 

[Mrs. K]

Being you have 6 kids, I would get 10-12 hens! And really a dozen hens is not more work than 5 hens. But they do take more space!

 

[texasmomma]

Thanks for the tip about the new chicks. We may wait until spring.

My neighbor finally told me the age of the current chickens. They are 4 years old. I really only *like* one of them. Is that crazy?

Anyway, I want to make sure we have enough room for a dozen. I certainly don't want to have any overcrowding. All but one of them left the coop today when I left the door open. They made fast work of a garden bed (can't call it a flower bed cause it was full of weeds and dead leaves) and it was super fun to watch.

We're waiting for it to rain now and I hope they are ok.

S

 

[maidenwolfx80]

My chickens dont really care to be out in the rain but my turkeys love it,. Yes I agree with waiting till spring, it is much easier to raise them in spring they will be stronger and healthier, and lay better sooner for you. I love getting new babies

I'm the kind of person who will see a beautiful breed or color variation and have to have it

I cant wait to begin breeding and mixing and matching next spring ( my first breeding project ) I hope all goes well for you and hope I was able to help...

 

[texasmomma]

I couldn't wait. I brought home 4 new chickens yesterday. They are around 8 weeks old. 2 are black australorps and 2 are gold laced wyandottes. They are so cute! We about drowned them last night, but my dear dh got out in the middle of the night, IN THE POURING RAIN, and put them in the shed. Looking forward to the adventure...

Susie

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I so love my birds!! I was battling depression and starting these birds has turned me totally around and I feel that old me feeling come back..

.. My gma had a farm with everything growing up, we spent every wekend and every summer helping on the farm, I loved it, thats what I always wanted for my life, but financially its tough... So when my hubby finally agreed to let me get my birds I was over joyed.... And ever since (got them in april) I have been happy, busy, quit smoking, able to be the mommy and wife I should be... Yea chickens (and turkeys) have changed my life..

 

[DanEP]

TExasmamma If your feeding chicks and laying hens I'd go with the grower feed .Layer feed has extra calcium in it for the egg shells but is not good for chicks before 18-20 weeks, its hard on their kidneys. The grower feed is usually about 20% protein and is great for growing chicks and will also help your girls that are molting to grow back feathers faster.
I seem to always have some chicks growing out so I just feed everybody grower with oyster shell on the side.The layers that need it will eat it and the chicks will ignore it. This way I don't have to worry about who's eating what and it seems like I get a few more eggs with the girls on higher protein.
Also just so you know 4 year old hens are probably not going to lay very well if at all.