Dumping Chickens on Our Property - What to do?

You can post whatever sign you want on your property as long as it is not offensive or going to warrent a public scare.

I see signs all the time (Honk if you love JESUS)...your property, your right to put any sign you want.

When I was a kid someone hit and killed my dog- so I posted signs on every tree- "whoever killed my dog and just left it- slow down!"

I would do as Chixie wrote:
maybe a sign up stating they are being videotaped and if they dump animals you will turn said videos to the proper authorities

I have a neighbor that has a sign in her window saying her front porch is being video taped at all times....they have small fake video cameras that are cheap that you can place around your property (to give the 'effect!')

I bet its someone who doesnt have $ to care for them and they dont want to kill them so dump them thining you are a 'haven' for unwanted critters. This is GREAT if the birds are healthy, if not...yikes....

BUT yes, I too believe everything happens for a reason. I'm, a vet assistant so every poor person in my neighborhood drops sick cats, hit by car cats, pregnat cats, kittens, off on my door step. It sucks...it cost me $$ I didnt have and stress I didnt need....(and one time all my own cats got sick with upper respitory!!! ARG!) BUT....all those cats that were dumped on me now have better lives with new families that care.

I wish you luck...hopefully after a month of quarentine the birds will be ok to mingle with yours...I would go ahead and worm them and give them a round of antibiotics just in case!!!!!

For the chickens....they are probably GLAD to have been abandoned at your place....

depending on where you are, the ACO if called may just cull them.

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Unfortunately there have been too many threads on BYC about outside birds introducing diseases to existing flocks. As much as I love chickens, I would not try to bring them into my flock if I were you, even after a quarantine. It's sad, but it would be best to cull them or give them to someone who has none and wants only 2 chickens.

Read this thread for an example of when quarantine won't expose existing illnesses in birds who are carriers of infectious diseases: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=181490. After reading that thread, I decided never to add anything but hatchery chicks to my flock. I got lucky last year when I got a banty cochin off craigslist - she was 100% healthy and I didn't know better. I'll never risk it again.
 
Just an update, we have the 2 hens caged on our front porch with food and water.

We thought about culling them, but then as we discussed this further, we felt that if they did have a disease then our flock has already been infected. They were all over our property after they were dumped.

The one hen does have bone showing in her injured neck but seems to be doing fine, no sign of being stressed. We put our standard medication on it, treated it just like it was our own.

We are going to find them a new home. But we will tell anyone who is interested that we do not know the history of these bird and that they could be carriers of a disease.

Thanks for all the advice, I will be putting some kind of signs up around our property. Not sure exactly how I will word the signs, but they will get our message across.

I spoke to our animal warden and we do have the right to protect our flock, and that includes culling any animals that are dumped onto our property.
 
I would approach the person who I think it might be. Mention what has been happening and ask them if they know anything about it. Perhaps they can't take care of them any more and since you gave them some...they don't want to ask you if they can send them back. At the same time you can take a look at the living conditions of the current hens. Worth a try...
 

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