Hello, my name is Monique , I live in Fort Myers Florida, and recently had a hen in my yard looking for advice.

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Glad to meet you, Monique, and welcome to BYC. Good for you for caring for this lost bird! Best wishes caring for that hen.

If you would like help figuring out what kind of chicken you have found, use this forum here. Adding a photo of the bird will help folks figure this out for you.

Here are my favorite beginning articles that helped me as a newbie. I hope you will find them helpful as well. All articles are short, have illustrations, and reviews, which are often worth looking at for the comments.

1. Intro to chicken keeping (the pictures and info should help you answer a lot of questions.)
Here is a table from the University of Georgia listing nutrition requirements for different age and type of bird. Most likely the bird you have found is not a broiler (meat) bird, just because they don't tend to wander much. Note that a hen laying eggs will need calcium, while chicks, roosters and hens who are not laying really should not have calcium added diets. The main info you want when shopping for food for that bird is the protein amount, as you can see most other nutrients change a smaller amount.

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2. Common mistakes & how to fix them

3. Ventilation (important to chicken health), with helpful links to coop designs organized by climate (because what is just right for my New England hens won't work for my brother's Arizona chickens)

3(a). Farmers Almanac on Building Coops (Includes size requirements!) Allowing plenty of space for chickens is really important because, even as chicks, they will start pecking each other or plucking their own feathers, or become unhealthy if they are overcrowded. Here is a link to Colorado State Extension's publication on space and temperature requirements for chicks as they age.

4. Predator protection for new & existing coops

5. Dealing with a muddy coop and run

6. Gardening for chickens

7. BYC Lists of Chicken Ailments and Cures

To look for articles on your own:

A. Use the SEARCH button, but use the Advanced Search choice, and select ARTICLES at the top of the box. Just enter your keyword(s) and scroll through your results!

B. I find it helpful to notice the rating and reviews. All articles are by BYC members, and all the reviews/ratings are as well. The ratings help a newbie like me sort the most useful and reliable articles.

C. You can bookmark the articles or posts you think you want to refer to again using that bookmark icon at the top of articles or posts. You can find them again by clicking on your own avatar and looking at the list of bookmarks you have built up!
 

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