HELP!!!

[LilNugget]

Hi there,

Thank God I found this site, I am so worried and want to do everything right. My husband brought home a chicken the other night and we have no idea where to start/how to care for her. I'm not even sure we are allowed to have her! He saved her from a farm, and we really want to get her some friends and raise them right, but we don't know the first thing about it! I didn't even know there were different breeds, etc. I feel so stupid. Is there a newbie checklist or anything that someone can guide me towards? We live in New Jersey. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas and

! You came to the right place. First step: calm down - it's gonna be okay. Second step: go up to the Learning Center (above) and read up on being a chicken beginner. Lots of great info there to help the newbie. You'll be an old hand in no time!! The basics: give them a properly balanced chicken food - from a local farm and ranch store. Also plenty of clean water. Also, you might actually want to consider adding a second bird - chickens don't do well solo. Best of luck.

 

[sumi]

Hello and welcome to BYC

Redsoxs gave you some good advice. But before I get another chicken to keep that one company I'd deworm her and dust her for mites, just to make sure. Unfortunately some people don't take proper care of their birds and if yours is a "rescue" I'd say play it safe.
If you move around the site you'll see "sticky threads" in blue on top of each section. For example this section's sticky threads are "Group welcome..." "How to be a good BYC citizen." "Need an avatar?" etc. The sticky threads has some of the best and most informative threads in each section and is a great start to finding answers to your questions. The Freq Asked Questions section also has some chicken related questions (scroll down past the site related Q's)
You can post in the Local Laws and Ordinances section to see if you are allowed to keep chickens where you are and/or the Where am I, Where are you? section for people near you who can advice you.
You can also post pics of her (the sticky in the Feedback and announcement section explains about posting pics) and our members can help identify her breed and maybe her age.
Your local Tractor Supply or farm supply store or petshop will have chicken food (and dewormer and DE for dusting for mites) and they can advice you on the different types of food that's available.
Best of luck with your unexpected chicken adventure. I hope all goes well for you and your chicken and she brings you lots of joy!

 

[liz9910]

I second the above advise, good luck.

 

[weimarmama]

& from Alabama. Glad you joined us. Great advice given. Best of luck with her

 

[LilNugget]

Thank you all! We built her a coop and got the right food. We are having trouble locating a place to buy a friend for her. She does seem lonely