Good to know there are other folk new to this. My story, Short version: I moved into a house and discovered feral chicken. Speckled mamma with 8 chicks. (Rooster would stop by but not hang around) she was a good mamma and raised all 8, now I still have 5 of her chicks, 2 rosters and 3 black hens and the mamma. We are not rural but not city either, many people don't like the chickens. I am finding it fascinating watching their behaviors. The chicks are now about,15 months old; 6 months ago the smallest of the hens, (baby girl) was about the size of a pidgin, had what looked like, her tongue exploding out from her beak, she came up to me to fix it?(these are wild chickens) I gave her yogurt and or vinegar, dipped very small pieces of whole grain bread and watched her try to eat. I thought she was going to die, there was foamy white stuff and she couldn't open or pick up things with her beak. She was much smaller than the others and was hungry she wanted to eat but couldn't so I fed her anything small I could find even ground meats and to my surprise she survived and is now laying eggs. She was on the bottom of the pecking order and used me for protection, I had to wean her back to foraging. In November my 2 roosters, went MIA.?they are wild so I thought they moved on to new hens. Christmas day I heard a familiar sound and look out. 'Freckles" was back. he was limping, and I noticed he had a 12" cord tied to his R leg. I went out, gave him a piece of bread and picked him up! the cord was so tight it was embedding in his leg. I got my son to help and we cut the cord off. He had been tethered somewhere and something had chewed through the cordage about 12 inches away from his leg and he had made his escape dragging the rope with him. I massaged his leg and let him go. I thought he would run off but he ruffled his feathers and hung out. it took about a week for his limp to go away and now he seems fine. He seems to be the secondary rooster his brother 'Big Boy' who returned the same day? I think Big boy stayed close, when Freckles got caught and they both came home together? Both Roosters call the hens to come eat, if they get food they both give the hens their food from their beaks, they scratch and coo and find egg laying places for the hens, and for some reason, they like to face into the corner of my front porch and hunker down. The hens have started laying in a box on the porch yeah! (we have found an egg in the cab of the truck?) and every time I hear a noise, there is another egg and they all share? is this normal chicken behavior? The roosters are not the big problem the hens make soo much noise! and they are mean to each other, definable pecking order. I have 7 eggs in the box outside and a dozen in the fridge 
this is very interesting.
this is very interesting.
and Welcome To BYC!
