Hello from Newcastle Australia

[tanmax]

I'm looking forward to reading all your posts and gaining as much knowledge as I can to give my chooks the best life I can. I've recently adopted some rescue chooks from a local egg farm and they're not in great condition. I'm hoping to get some advice on how I can get them looking and feeling their best as soon as possible.
I can't wait to hear from you guys.
Tanya

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi Tanya and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. Here's a link to a search that i just did on ex-batts - https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/163072/?q=Ex+batts&o=date&c[title_only]=1 - some stuff may be interesting.

More generally, you'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/learning-center.11/ and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

You may wish to consider joining your country thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area -
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/598568/australia-six-states-and-that-funny-little-island


All the best

CT

 

[tanmax]

Hi Tanya and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. Here's a link to a search that i just did on ex-batts - https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/163072/?q=Ex+batts&o=date&c[title_only]=1 - some stuff may be interesting.

More generally, you'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/learning-center.11/ and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

You may wish to consider joining your country thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area -
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/598568/australia-six-states-and-that-funny-little-island


All the best

CT

Wow! Thank you so much for all the info!
I will certainly take your advice and connect with other BYC members near me.

One thing I am very glad I instinctively did with my new (rather sad looking) girls is build them a new pen before they arrived and kept them separate from my older healthy chickens that I've had for a couple of years.

I had no idea about possible diseases and really only separated them to give the new girls time to adjust to life as free chickens and improve their health dramatically as they are quite nasty looking with very few feathers and very thin.
I never considered diseases other than mites which I treated the coop for before bringing them home.

After reading several articles today I'm now concerned that I have not kept them far enough away from my original flock. I built the new coop and pen right next to my old coop! not realizing this was bad.

My original flock are free range around my entire 3 acre property and the rescued girls are penned in so they are only next to each other in their coops at night. I hope that's enough to keep them safe should something become apparent with the new additions!

I have some pics to share to give you some idea of what my old and new girls look like and how close the 2 coops are to each other...

I really hope the new girls all reach full health and live out their lives happily free-ranging.

Regards,
Tanya

 

[Pork Pie]

Hygiene standards are very high in commercial operations, ditto vaccination schedules so I would not be overly concerned.

Im sure those girls will look great in a few months - great job

 

[drumstick diva]

Think you will need higher, stronger fencing around them to protect from predators. Also one day they may realize they can fly. They will bloom
under your care, so please keep before & after photos.