Friend's Chickens

[cow whisperer]

 

[cow whisperer]

Those are only a small amount of the chickens on the farm where I am currently living.

 

[FriendlyFace]

Hey everyone. I'm new here and I need some advice about a friends chickens.

My neighbor got 7 chickens and a few weeks later just moved out and left them with her daughter who doesn't take care of them. They are... free range? No cage or fence so they roam around my yard all the time. I don't mind them usually but nobody is feeding them so I have been throwing fruits vegetable and rice out at the property line and they all come running. There are 3 small roosters, three small hens and a very large rooster who is always loud. Only one of the small roosters has started making noise and it sounds pitiful, poor thing.

But my questions are:
A. Why are they afraid of me when I've been their only source of food for about 3 months?
B. Why is one of the hens being bullied by all the other chickens? She is the smallest, she's all black, very quiet and scared of everything. She will slowly inch up to the food, grab something and go hide in the bushes or under my car. I've seen two of them attack her for no good reason and I feel so bad for her. What do I do?
C. I'm scared of the big rooster because he used to attacks my neighbors son when he would take them food and look in the little house so I don't try to catch them or scare them but shouldn't someone be looking for eggs?
D. They aren't my chickens so how do I take care of them? How do I know if they're healthy, if they need something, or even why they were all suddenly screaming so loud today. Mainly the female chickens. They've never done that before.
E. Should I be worried if one of the small roosters goes missing? Should I just call animal control and have them removed before someone or something kills them?

There are two black hens and a grey hen. There are two grey roosters, one large white rooster with a Colorful tail and one rooster that looks like a turkey in color. Lots of dark greys, blacks and browns in the feathers. Idk if that helps with breed at all. I just have no clue about chickens and though I feel bad for them I don't want to be responsible for them.

 

[Chickening101]

FriendlyFace, I'm so sorry about your situation. I will try to answer as many of those questions as I can.

Answer to A: They are probably still scared of you because they haven't been cared for, or maybe they are sick.

Answer to B: The reason that hen is being bullied is because she is probably the weakest one. There usually is in a flock. Other hens like to take advantage of the weak ones.

I'm sorry, I don't have the answer to C.

Answer to D: You should probably try to talk to the daughter about the chickens. Maybe talk to Animal Control. And the reason that the hens are screaming is because they are either sick, or in some cases, a hen will act as the rooster, which only happens if there ain't a rooster, so that isn't likely.

Answer to E: My recommendation for all of this is talking to Animal Control or the daughter.

Hope this info helped!!! Feel free to talk to me if you have any more questions.

 

[Chickening101]

Beautiful!

 

[FriendlyFace]

Chickening101, thank you. I got out of my car with a sandwich and a drink for my mom and the biggest rooster attacked me when I stepped outside to get my purse and phone from the car. I have called animal control. They're going to tell the daughter what happened and what she needs to do and if she doesn't want to take care of them the animal control lady will take them and give them to the farmer she knows. She also said it's likely the big rooster will be killed if it's aggressive to her and the farmer. I would rather it not be killed unless someone is going to eat it but I also want to be able to leave my home without being attacked. But thank you so much. I don't know what's gotten into him today because he's never done that before.

 

[Chickening101]

No problem! Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

 

[cow whisperer]