My wife and I live in south Mississippi, quite a warm climate. We have large lot in a small coastal town. We are planning to build a chicken coop and order some chicks in March 2014. We can keep about a dozen, mostly for the eggs. The wood for the coop is in the garage and I will be starting this week. I had planned on joining BYC then.
However, I am joining now because we had an unexpected visitor last Saturday (Sept 21). I was minding my own business, fixing breakfast for our two dogs, when I heard a thump outside. I went out back to investigate. I found a large gray bird, I could not tell what it was, almost completely hidden behind a cinder block that was up against a corner of the fence and the yard. My dogs Marcy and April were very interested, but I shooed them inside and moved the cinder block to let the bird escape, then went back inside. I did not know what kind of bird it was, but it had grey-blue feathers. I was hoping it was not hurt and would fly away.
Hours later, after our own breakfast, I told my wife and we went out to check on the bird. It seemed to have disappeared from the cinder block and we had hope it had flown away. Returning to the house, we saw a large grey-blue chicken had taken refuge behind our smoker on the back porch. It seemed fine, but was very leery of the dogs. The dogs were fascinated, but kept their distance. Today, Thursday, it is still here. It generally sleeps on top of the smoker. We have put out water and have been feeding her mostly kitchen scraps. We bought some scratch too. I can also report that she loves baloney. Now it is walking freely around the yard, eating grass and bugs.
We had planned to get chickens, but not right now. We have checked with the neighbors if they know anyone with chickens, and I have called animal control. They have no reports of a missing chicken, so we are keeping it for now.
However, I am joining now because we had an unexpected visitor last Saturday (Sept 21). I was minding my own business, fixing breakfast for our two dogs, when I heard a thump outside. I went out back to investigate. I found a large gray bird, I could not tell what it was, almost completely hidden behind a cinder block that was up against a corner of the fence and the yard. My dogs Marcy and April were very interested, but I shooed them inside and moved the cinder block to let the bird escape, then went back inside. I did not know what kind of bird it was, but it had grey-blue feathers. I was hoping it was not hurt and would fly away.
Hours later, after our own breakfast, I told my wife and we went out to check on the bird. It seemed to have disappeared from the cinder block and we had hope it had flown away. Returning to the house, we saw a large grey-blue chicken had taken refuge behind our smoker on the back porch. It seemed fine, but was very leery of the dogs. The dogs were fascinated, but kept their distance. Today, Thursday, it is still here. It generally sleeps on top of the smoker. We have put out water and have been feeding her mostly kitchen scraps. We bought some scratch too. I can also report that she loves baloney. Now it is walking freely around the yard, eating grass and bugs.
We had planned to get chickens, but not right now. We have checked with the neighbors if they know anyone with chickens, and I have called animal control. They have no reports of a missing chicken, so we are keeping it for now.
