Adopting Abused Flock - NEED HELP!

[burnyourmoney]

I'd look into fermented food. There is a wonderful thread in the meat birds section. I have all my birds on it, I think it's great. It will do everything yogurt does and more. Speaking of yogurt, yogurt is not yogurt. You need to get balkin? yogurt if you want it to do any good. That sugary Danone stuff is garbage and probably worse for your birds then nothing at all. It has to have the live cultures in it.

Honestly, from your description of the place it doesn't sound that bad. Of course, you saw it and I did not.

 

[PeachStreet]

Thank you! I will look into quarantine threads. I knew not to put my chickens in with them, mostly because they are too young and also because they have Coccidiosis, but I had no idea for how long. So, thanks for that info! As for turning her in, I decided I would do that the first day I was there I was just worried no one would care. You know how some agencies are, "they're just chickens". But I hadn't thought of the public health issue. My worry is, which is why I DID'T turn her in first thing, what will become of the poor birds?

 

[PeachStreet]

I've not heard of fermented food! I'll check into that. I figured giving a plain live cultured yogurt would be best, not the fruit at the bottom kind, but having it already in the feed would be great.

Yes it was very bad. I didn't go into much detail because I didn't want to ya'll to have to dig through so much info to get to my questions. I wish I had not seen it but of course I'm glad I did because it means I can give them a better life for however much longer they can hang on. Hopefully a really, really long time!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Yes, use plain, unflavored, unsweetened yogurt. It is yogurt. Mountain High has a good one if you can get that brand. It has 5 different cultures in it (I think 5).

Fermented feed is great. I've been doing that with my young birds and am working toward expanding it to all my adult stock. It saves money and its so much better for them that way.

 

[PeachStreet]

I hope you guys are still around!! I have a couple of questions regarding my newly adopted flock....

An update: They seem to be doing very, very well. The scruffy looking little pullet is now soft, shiny and silky. Everyone seems very happy. They come running when they see me whereas they used to scatter - even the little rooster. They have quite a large run attached to their coop but we've also put up a large fenced in area around their coop and run and they just love getting out there to explore. Won't be letting them free-range fully for another little while.

Questions:

First, they seem very hungry a good bit of the time. I have been trying to follow advice by not overdoing it. I am currently feeding them Layena by Purina and a few mealworms daily to make friends. But I probably feed them 3 times a day, 3 - 4 cups each time - I don't have a proper feeder just yet, so I'm feeding them from a large bowl. If they are hungry they will come running to me for feed. If not, they will go on about their business. I have no idea whether they are still trying to make up for not being fed properly or are taking advantage of me. LOL I have no problem feeding them this often, I just want to be sure I'm not harming them.

How much is too much? How do you know?

Second, they are not laying. I have 10 hens, 1 rooster. At least 6 of the hens are of a good laying age, possibly one or two more. I realized they wouldn't lay right away but when's cause for concern? It is hot here but the last several days have been pleasant and their coop is nice and shady, though they can get all they sunlight they need from their run and yard play. No one seems egg-bound, though I am certainly no expert, but I'm not seeing anyone refuse to eat or lethargic. Honestly they seem quite happy and healthy. I've only had them just a day short of a week so there's still lots of observing to do but I'm just worried that the lack of eggs is a sign of something serious. Could just be stress or heat, I guess, but how long before I should really start to worry??

 

[Lacy Blues]

I hope you guys are still around!! I have a couple of questions regarding my newly adopted flock....

An update: They seem to be doing very, very well. The scruffy looking little pullet is now soft, shiny and silky. Everyone seems very happy. They come running when they see me whereas they used to scatter - even the little rooster. They have quite a large run attached to their coop but we've also put up a large fenced in area around their coop and run and they just love getting out there to explore. Won't be letting them free-range fully for another little while.

Questions:

First, they seem very hungry a good bit of the time. I have been trying to follow advice by not overdoing it. I am currently feeding them Layena by Purina and a few mealworms daily to make friends. But I probably feed them 3 times a day, 3 - 4 cups each time - I don't have a proper feeder just yet, so I'm feeding them from a large bowl. If they are hungry they will come running to me for feed. If not, they will go on about their business. I have no idea whether they are still trying to make up for not being fed properly or are taking advantage of me. LOL I have no problem feeding them this often, I just want to be sure I'm not harming them.

How much is too much? How do you know?

Second, they are not laying. I have 10 hens, 1 rooster. At least 6 of the hens are of a good laying age, possibly one or two more. I realized they wouldn't lay right away but when's cause for concern? It is hot here but the last several days have been pleasant and their coop is nice and shady, though they can get all they sunlight they need from their run and yard play. No one seems egg-bound, though I am certainly no expert, but I'm not seeing anyone refuse to eat or lethargic. Honestly they seem quite happy and healthy. I've only had them just a day short of a week so there's still lots of observing to do but I'm just worried that the lack of eggs is a sign of something serious. Could just be stress or heat, I guess, but how long before I should really start to worry??

They are probably just stressed. Three reasons:

1. They have been underfed and feeding them well for a week or so is not going to fix the problems that developed inside because of their prior lack of feed. Underfed is not terribly detrimental. Starvation is.

2. They have been moved. Even though they are happier at their new home, the move is still stressful.

3. It's hot.

It will take some time. In a healthy bird they can go off laying for a couple weeks when they're moved. With the heat, their laying will be reduced. Make sure they have plenty of oyster shell as the panting in the summer heat causes them to lose electrolytes and minerals from their bodies.

Be patient. I'm sure they'll start laying pretty soon.

 

[Mac14]

Poor chickens! Hope something good comes out of this.

 

[raro]

Could the lady who previously owned them be suffering from dementia? Sometimes when the brain starts to slow down, people forget to do the most basic things. Was there evidence of not just chickens suffering, but maybe she wasn't as clean as she should be? Or her house? I would report her to animal control just out of kindness to the poor animals. Most animal control people aren't going to just come in and snatch them; they'll talk to her and find out the issues, maybe give her some ultimatums about cleanliness and give her a little time to make some changes. Or, they could find that she is suffering from dementia and will give the animals to new homes. Either way, I would definitely call animal control.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I just want to say, I hope you've stopped and given yourself a pat on the back while you've been going through all of this. Not only are you a completely new chicken keeper, you dove in head first and stared with rescue animals. There's so much more I could say about how just absolutely fantastic that is....you just have no idea

Now, I'll give my $0.02
It sounds to me like you're doing a fabulous job of caring for your new pets. Once they settle into their new routine with you, they'll give you some eggs (and they'll be the most delicious eggs you've ever tasted because you've worked so hard for them). Even though they've been with you for almost a week, your place is still new to them. Having food and clean water and grass is new to them, chickens are creatures of habit and all the changes have scrambled their little brains.

If you have a plastic waterer, a little apple cider vinegar will keep the water from getting that icky algea in it (or, just dump it and give fresh everyday). As for that, I would certainly turn this person in to animal control. At the very least, maybe they'll write her a ticket and that will encourage her to either take better care of her birds or sell them to someone who will. I know when I have someone coming to my house to look at birds, I clean my entire coop out, shavings are tossed so they can be fresh and everything is scubbed down so it can be spanky clean for visitors (and I scrape my coop down AT LEAST once a week to begin with, so I can consider it clean enough for me to go in and out of).

Anyway, the main reason I responded to your thread was to tell you to keep up the good work my friend. You should be extra pround of yourself for what you've done for those poor, neglected little birds! Oh, and I'd love to see some pictures of your lucky little feather babies. Good luck to you!

 

[En Plein Air Farms]

chickens eat for a living. Hand feeding is a great thing and helps you reinforce the bonding, but they will need a hopper with their mash or kibble and free access all the time.
If you are short on funds I saw a very simple one here a few days ago, a big bucket turned over in a bigger pan, just jiggle the bucket a bit to let more out. Easier if you cut out some holes around the rim, but at least it will get you started.

We'd like pictures