Adopted Chickens look AWFUL!!!

[NewbieFarm]

Someone who lives down the street from me couldn't keep their chickens anymore. I didn't ask why, but I've always wanted chickens, so I told her I'd take care of them. There's 35 total. I would say about 25 out of 35 look bad. Me and my father built a really nice coop 7x12 with a nice sized run 10x12. I've had them for 2 weeks now. The thing is, they look terrible. Feathers missing, few eggs, and runny stool. But not all of them. I have some pictures to see if you can help me out.


This is one of the worst in the bunch. She has a bare back, and runny stool.

This is her neck. She's about 2 years old,

Some look fine though.

She looks beautiful. No runny stool or anything, and she's almost 6!


Here's the rooster, he seems to actually be growing feathers though.


Here's his neck.


The previous owner only fed them cracked corn. Plus they were in a 6x6 coop with a 6x20 run.
I feed them flock raiser, with several supplements, and mealworms.
Will they be able to recover?

 

[rbaker0345]

You have some issues here, but they're not terrible. One issue is damage from the rooster getting on top of them, you can get a hen saddle for that. They are very inexpensive and there are people in the "everything else" section of the classifieds on this site who sell them or you can find them on ebay in some really cool colors.

Next, it looks like they have some mite action (the yellow crustiness). You can dust them with sevin dust and then dust the edges and corners of your coop with it. Pay special attention to dusting their vent area, this is where the mites will congregate the most.

These problems all come on top of what looks like a heavy molt. No biggies, normal chicken issues. If they weren't taken good care of, I would deworm them for good measure. I like to use fenbendazole horse paste dewormer, a pea sized portion smeared on the inside of the upper beak once a day for three days is good for what ails ya'.

 

[NewbieFarm]

Sorry i don't know why those pictures are upside down.

 

[NewbieFarm]

@rbaker0345 Will sevin dust hurt the few eggs they lay? And what if the chickens accidentally ingest some?

 

[rbaker0345]

It won't hurt them. It won't effect eggs, you can still eat them. You don't need to use much, don't make it look like it snowed on them, just a light dusting.