Found chicken needs help!

gabrielle harri

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hello this wee girl was brought to me today I put her in the coop but under advice now have her in a cage, She was very hungry and thirsty and ate a lot and seems perky but her skin is very hot and red and as you can see from the photos she has lost lots of feathers. She was wandering around the street and I don't know what too do with her. I have her in a cage which I hate but I don't want my other two girls to get what it is she has unless you can help me. I would like to make her better and integrate her into the coop. Any advice I'd love your help.
 

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Poor girl!
You definitely did good by separating her. Both because you don't know what she has and also so your girls don't pick on her.

Also Welcome to BYC! :frow
There are loads of friendly knowledgeable folks here with a lot more experience than I have.
Sending lots of healing thoughts to her! :fl:love
 
It is always a good idea, and safest, to quarantine any new bird(s) to your flock for 30 days. The stress of a new home can bring out hidden illness and it's best to know before you spread it to your flock.
I would check her over very carefully for lice/mites. She also could be like this due to feather picking by whatever other birds she was previously with. Also looks like some of it could be rooster damage also, the area on the back in front of the tail, and the bare spot behind the comb are common for rooster damage. I would feed her a grower feed with a higher protein content for a while, offering oyster shell free choice all the time. Do you know if she is laying? Hard to tell in a picture, and the feather loss likely makes it look worse, but she may have ascites, which is an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen which can be caused by reproductive problems, infection, cancers, or organ failure. Check the abdomen to see if it feels normal, or particularly hard, or water balloon like. You can compare with your other chickens for reference. If she seems ok then I would keep her separated and on a good diet for a while and give her a chance to recover. I'd also keep an eye on her droppings for any other signs of illness or internal parasites. If you have a vet that will do a fecal float test for internal parasites I would do that.
 
I would feed her well and worm her with ivemectin to take care of external and most internal parasites. Definitely keep her quarantined, poor girl looks like she's had it rough.
 
She looks a bit like some chickens I rescued that were in overcrowded, unclean living conditions.

If she were here, I'd give her a warm epsom salt bath. It will relax her, help with detox, and the mites/the lice don't like the epsom salt baths! If she's constipated, it will help get her bowels moving too.

It looks like her beak may have been cut or broken at some point. I'd give her wet feed (feed + water) to make it easier for her to get the food and the water in. Go with high protein. It can be in the feed, or supplemented with scrambled eggs, meat, fish, dark greens.

If the feathers were lost due to crowded conditions/mean flock mates, then they will probably come back when she molts.

I'd also give her some vitamins to help boost her immune system. Hard to say what's she's been through, but it looks like life was tough before finding you.

*hugs* Thanks for taking her in.
 
It is always a good idea, and safest, to quarantine any new bird(s) to your flock for 30 days. The stress of a new home can bring out hidden illness and it's best to know before you spread it to your flock.
I would check her over very carefully for lice/mites. She also could be like this due to feather picking by whatever other birds she was previously with. Also looks like some of it could be rooster damage also, the area on the back in front of the tail, and the bare spot behind the comb are common for rooster damage. I would feed her a grower feed with a higher protein content for a while, offering oyster shell free choice all the time. Do you know if she is laying? Hard to tell in a picture, and the feather loss likely makes it look worse, but she may have ascites, which is an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen which can be caused by reproductive problems, infection, cancers, or organ failure. Check the abdomen to see if it feels normal, or particularly hard, or water balloon like. You can compare with your other chickens for reference. If she seems ok then I would keep her separated and on a good diet for a while and give her a chance to recover. I'd also keep an eye on her droppings for any other signs of illness or internal parasites. If you have a vet that will do a fecal float test for internal parasites I would do that.
thank you for your lovely help. I think you may be on target with the feather picking. I posted this online and a woman from a bird rescue tells me she is exactly like the 3000 chickens they are re homing from a farm. Yes the chickens pick each other ( eewwwhh poor things). And yes high protein diet she also advised. So I am on to this and she is a lucky girl and has come to me to be loved so I will call her lucky. Thank you for your help
 
She looks a bit like some chickens I rescued that were in overcrowded, unclean living conditions.

If she were here, I'd give her a warm epsom salt bath. It will relax her, help with detox, and the mites/the lice don't like the epsom salt baths! If she's constipated, it will help get her bowels moving too.

It looks like her beak may have been cut or broken at some point. I'd give her wet feed (feed + water) to make it easier for her to get the food and the water in. Go with high protein. It can be in the feed, or supplemented with scrambled eggs, meat, fish, dark greens.

If the feathers were lost due to crowded conditions/mean flock mates, then they will probably come back when she molts.

I'd also give her some vitamins to help boost her immune system. Hard to say what's she's been through, but it looks like life was tough before finding you.

*hugs* Thanks for taking her in.
HI thank you! yes I think you are right I just replied to the other post. She is being well loved now and we are going to call her lucky. I believe in a weird way she came to me so now she's the luckiest girl in the world. I'll post an update. But question do you think ex battery will be diseased I think she probably has been hooked up on all sorts of drugs to keep her disease free. I just don't want to leave her in a cage for a long time. I'll check for mites etc
x
 
Hard to say.

When I adopt chickens, I deworm them and treat them for coccidious. Just as a precaution. After they join the other chickens (I have multiple flocks), then they are treated on the same schedule as everyone else.

She may go through detox. Have runny poo, smell funky, act weird as her body adjusts to a healthier life. (She may have been on all kinds of stuff to keep her producing, from medicated feed, stuffs in the water, and artificial lights to keep growth/production going.) I've adopted chickens that were in high stress/over crowded/less than clean conditions and the person's main goal was egg production.

Her feathers may fall out - like a molt. The feathers may change colors. The beak may change colors. I've had some change eye colors too.

Just keep talking to her in a soft voice and try to keep to a schedule with her. If she came from a CAFO (personal or commercial) she's use to a routine. Go with the fermented feed or wet food for her.

I'd love to see updates/pics of Lucky. :)
 

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