Feral chickens - capture and keep?

[Noelani]

I have some feral chickens that come into my yard and look for food. One, I call Hoppy, because she only has use of one leg, is one I would love to catch and keep in my coop with the rest of my flock. She has a difficult time scratching for food, she is so skittish that the doves will scare her away from food. She seems to get enough to eat because she is still getting around.

Does anyone know how feral chickens do if they are restricted to a coop and yard? We have a small fenced off yard for our chickens, but we do not allow them to roam our yard since our dogs think they are fun playthings. I don't know if it will be more harmful to catch her and try to keep her or let her continue to fight for food.

And along those lines, one of the other feral chickens had chicks about 9 or 10 weeks ago and mom has separated herself from them. I would love to add them to my coop also - it looks like at least 1 rooster and 4 hens. I wonder if they would adapt to being "cooped" up or if once a chicken is feral, it is best to let them stay feral.

Any thoughts?

 

[chicknmania]

They would probably adapt, imo, but you would definitely want to keep them all in quarantine for a month anyway, and then carefully and gradually introduce them to your flock. They could be carrying diseases transmittable to your flock, and, they'd need to figure out the pecking order. You'd have to keep them separate and then, put them in a pen where they'd still be separate from the flock but could interact, and see how they do. this is AFTER you've had them in quarantine for a month. I'd let them stay in a pen where they could interact with the others for another week, at least, and THEN if they do ok, ok. Especially the injured hen might have a problem, or if you already have a rooster, the new roosters would definitely have a problem.

 

[centrarchid]

Breed potentially important. Pictures?