Hello all! Newbie Chicken Caregiver

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!! Sorry about Dumplin. You're taking good care of your neighbor's chickens. I'm not sure why she's not learning to keep them penned up after that, but some people just don't care. You're getting a crash course in owning chickens so hopefully soon you can have your own!

 

[mumzee1432]

hello and welcome !
wow what a story. pretty weird situation there. I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I could handle that., becoming attached to them but not being able to control how they are cared for, that would take a lot of grace.

It's sooo hard. I've always had pets (dogs as a child, cats as a teen/adult) and we treat our pets like children. The 'trick or treat' crew has been here repeatedly today -- but the twist is both roosters wanted to be petted. That was an interesting development. The alpha rooster has never done that. All of the flock saw us tending to Dumplin on the day of the accident. They watch our every move so I wonder if they understood on some level that we were trying to help her. Normally the alpha rooster side-eyes the other rooster when he hops up on the banister for petting. Today, he gave petting a try. That offset our sadness a bit. Thanks for the welcome. <3

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Beautiful introduction! ❤ I am so sorry Dumplin didn't survive, it's always traumatic to lose a feathered friend, any close companion for that matter. The average person has no idea just how special chickens really are, you and your daughter have a heart of gold.

Welcome to our community!

 

[mumzee1432]

Hello and Welcome to BYC. Glad to have you with us in this poultry lovers community. Come spring maybe one of the hens will decide on having a family and will decide to do it where you can keep her hidden away. If you can keep the eggs the same should apply to baby chicks hatched on your porch. Especially in a small secure coop for ma and the kids.

Wasn't that sweet for her to tell me I can keep eggs I happen to find in my yard? At this point, I am hoping they up their caregiving game for winter .... but a spring chicken family expansion on our porch would be a lovely development.

 

[Nomadicus]

Wasn't that sweet for her to tell me I can keep eggs I happen to find in my yard? At this point, I am hoping they up their caregiving game for winter .... but a spring chicken family expansion on our porch would be a lovely development.

You would have an option of just keeping the eggs from the nest and giving the hen some new ones you bought from a local farmer so then you would certainly have claim to the chicks and the hen will stay with you and the chicks for about 6-8 weeks. If she does it once she will do it again in time. They have their way with chicken math too.

 

[Jenbirdee]

You would have an option of just keeping the eggs from the nest and giving the hen some new ones you bought from a local farmer so then you would certainly have claim to the chicks and the hen will stay with you and the chicks for about 6-8 weeks. If she does it once she will do it again in time. They have their way with chicken math too.

i can’t help but worry about them going out in the road and getting hit by a car like dumpling did since they’re not in any kind of fenced area. So if new babies are hatched and fenced area is created, so that they are safe from the road, the old crew that visits won’t be able to come in visit anymore because of the fence ??

 

[mumzee1432]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
That was a fantastic introduction!
I'd love to not only see pictures of YOUR chickens but your daughter in attire on the stage if you care to share!

Here's one of my favorite daily views -- the trick or treaters! And .... some photos of my daughter in dance mode. These are all from the Nutrcracker production that she just wrapped up. She's the front snowflake on left in the front row looking at the group stage shot. That's a public approved production shot -- the others are backstage. She was a party mom, flower and snow corps.

 

[mumzee1432]

i can’t help but worry about them going out in the road and getting hit by a car like dumpling did since they’re not in any kind of fenced area. So if new babies are hatched and fenced area is created, so that they are safe from the road, the old crew that visits won’t be able to come in visit anymore because of the fence ??

I've never seen any of the chickens going where Dumplin went. If I were to have chickens of my own, we have space that could easily fenced in on the side of our place that's away from the road. I haven't done anything to restrict these chickens, but I have worked hard to redirect them numerous times away from the road. We give them lots of incentive to stay on the non-road side of our property. This flock has been seen 1/2 mile down the road behind our house "trick or treating." They roam all over the place -- normally traveling behind houses and away from the road.

It turns out that the house behind us had gotten attached to Dumplin in particular. They came over to talk about the situation. Apparently, they saw her roaming away from the flock before the accident and then saw us out working with her so they knew we were trying to help. They came to see if she made it. They had been assuming the chickens were ours because they are around our house so often. All of us are beside ourselves that the "owners" have not followed up. The owner/woman claimed to my husband on the accident day that she had seen the chicken in the yard but thought it was dead -- claimed she intended to have her husband go get it out of the yard. I didn't buy that then or now. She also said she would have him come pick her up from us that night (never came). I do not think she drove by and believed the chicken had passed -- Dumplin was moving quite a bit according to our neighbor and when we found her. If she passed by and saw the accident/chicken, she just kept going and left the situation up to us to resolve. Heartless and irresponsible. It's bad enough how they treat the chickens day to day, now they clearly don't care about their relationship with the people around them either. They know people are taking care of their flock. It's natural to get attached to them and beyond disappointing that they truly don't care.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Maybe time to set up a coop in your yard? It wouldn’t be your fault if the flock chose it over their current crappy living situation, right?

 

[Nomadicus]

I've never seen any of the chickens going where Dumplin went. If I were to have chickens of my own, we have space that could easily fenced in on the side of our place that's away from the road. I haven't done anything to restrict these chickens, but I have worked hard to redirect them numerous times away from the road. We give them lots of incentive to stay on the non-road side of our property. This flock has been seen 1/2 mile down the road behind our house "trick or treating." They roam all over the place -- normally traveling behind houses and away from the road.

It turns out that the house behind us had gotten attached to Dumplin in particular. They came over to talk about the situation. Apparently, they saw her roaming away from the flock before the accident and then saw us out working with her so they knew we were trying to help. They came to see if she made it. They had been assuming the chickens were ours because they are around our house so often. All of us are beside ourselves that the "owners" have not followed up. The owner/woman claimed to my husband on the accident day that she had seen the chicken in the yard but thought it was dead -- claimed she intended to have her husband go get it out of the yard. I didn't buy that then or now. She also said she would have him come pick her up from us that night (never came). I do not think she drove by and believed the chicken had passed -- Dumplin was moving quite a bit according to our neighbor and when we found her. If she passed by and saw the accident/chicken, she just kept going and left the situation up to us to resolve. Heartless and irresponsible. It's bad enough how they treat the chickens day to day, now they clearly don't care about their relationship with the people around them either. They know people are taking care of their flock. It's natural to get attached to them and beyond disappointing that they truly don't care.

Sad that they leave it up to others to feed and care for their flock. Sounds like all they care about is free eggs from this point. Their chicken match may not have realized what it would cost to feed and care for them with predator proof runs and coops either.