Gave two of my chickens away

[Karriex2]

I am new to chickens. They were born April 3rd 2024. I absolutely love having them, they’re hilarious. I spoil them pretty good and they’re great chicks. Now to why I’m posting.

I had 7 chickens. They are 4 months old. My son just moved here and he was having a major grasshopper issue, so I gave him two. I was ok with only 5, but it was hard letting them go. The two chickens I gave to my son, flew up to his railing on his patio, which was at least 6 ft off the ground. Then they jumped onto the adjoining 6ft fence overlooking the neighbors yard that had dogs. He managed to get them down and put them in their new coop. Now my chickens have started jumping up on my fence, which they had NEVER done before. Now I’m afraid to let them free range in my yard because my neighbors aren’t friendly and I don’t want them flying into their yard. They are americanas and they love to free range, but I can’t watch them all day. My question is: do you think they’re missing the two that left and are looking for them? Should I bring the other two back? They have only been gone for 5 days. What do I do?

 

[Karriex2]

Here are some photos of where they live.

 

[Debbie292d]

I am new to chickens. They were born April 3rd 2024. I absolutely love having them, they’re hilarious. I spoil them pretty good and they’re great chicks. Now to why I’m posting.

I had 7 chickens. They are 4 months old. My son just moved here and he was having a major grasshopper issue, so I gave him two. I was ok with only 5, but it was hard letting them go. The two chickens I gave to my son, flew up to his railing on his patio, which was at least 6 ft off the ground. Then they jumped onto the adjoining 6ft fence overlooking the neighbors yard that had dogs. He managed to get them down and put them in their new coop. Now my chickens have started jumping up on my fence, which they had NEVER done before. Now I’m afraid to let them free range in my yard because my neighbors aren’t friendly and I don’t want them flying into their yard. They are americanas and they love to free range, but I can’t watch them all day. My question is: do you think they’re missing the two that left and are looking for them? Should I bring the other two back? They have only been gone for 5 days. What do I do?

Do you live close to your son so the chickens can hear each other? Regardless, that could be what's going on, and I'd assume since they haven't done it in the past, it should stop since this might be explainable.

You could consider clipping a wing of each. Here's a helpful article on how to do that. This article mentions just doing one wing, and I as the owner of two macaw parrots agree. You might find some who prefer doing both wings. I don't think either way is wrong, just that clipping one wing is most effective.

Beautiful birds and coop by the way!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Clip their wings. It has nothing to do with the other chickens leaving and everything to do with the fact they are chickens. You are projecting your feelings onto them. It is engrained in a chickens nature to roost and for survival purposes they will always choose to roost on the highest spot that they can fly to. Yours are at that age where they start to explore more and take roosting more seriously. When they are in the chick stage they don’t quite roost like an adult chicken would, but as they mature that instinct firmly kicks in and they will fly to the tallest spot that they can roost.

 

[Karriex2]

Thank you for your replies. I probably should clip their wings since we live in a neighborhood. Some people had told me that they take awhile to adjust to new surroundings, so I just wanted to check.

 

[Karriex2]

I live two hours from my son, so, no, they can’t hear each other. But thank you for the article on clipping wings. I’m going to try it soon.

 

[Karriex2]

Clip their wings. It has nothing to do with the other chickens leaving and everything to do with the fact they are chickens. You are projecting your feelings onto them. It is engrained in a chickens nature to roost and for survival purposes they will always choose to roost on the highest spot that they can fly to. Yours are at that age where they start to explore more and take roosting more seriously. When they are in the chick stage they don’t quite roost like an adult chicken would, but as they mature that instinct firmly kicks in and they will fly to the tallest spot that they can roost.

Clip their wings. It has nothing to do with the other chickens leaving and everything to do with the fact they are chickens. You are projecting your feelings onto them. It is engrained in a chickens nature to roost and for survival purposes they will always choose to roost on the highest spot that they can fly to. Yours are at that age where they start to explore more and take roosting more seriously. When they are in the chick stage they don’t quite roost like an adult chicken would, but as they mature that instinct firmly kicks in and they will fly to the tallest spot that they can roost.

Thank you

 

[Karriex2]

Do you live close to your son so the chickens can hear each other? Regardless, that could be what's going on, and I'd assume since they haven't done it in the past, it should stop since this might be explainable.

You could consider clipping a wing of each. Here's a helpful article on how to do that. This article mentions just doing one wing, and I as the owner of two macaw parrots agree. You might find some who prefer doing both wings. I don't think either way is wrong, just that clipping one wing is most effective.

Beautiful birds and coop by the way!

Thank you

 

[Karriex2]

I have a chicken that her eyes look weird. I’ll attach a picture. The feathers were all crusted around her eyes and it looks like the skin around the eye drooping and it seems like it’s greenish in color. We washed her feathers and cleaned it up and it seemed to be better. But it looks like the feathers are crusting up again. I saw one of my chickens yesterday pecking lightly around the eye. It looks like she was trying to help her, but I couldn’t tell. The chick with the issue just sat there and let her. Has anyone ever seen this before? I can’t find anything about it and I don’t know if it’s contagious or what.

A week or so ago, she was just lying around and not eating or drinking. It’s been in the 100’s here, so we thought she might not be doing well with the heat. I fed her water through a syringe and she improved almost right away. She acts normal, eats and drinks, but her eyes still look weird.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Karriex2]

We found a better picture.