Hen from China town

[Stephan]

Hi folks,

Here's the story: my roommate's friends were visiting, and they heard that we were thinking about getting chickens. So as a gag gift, they decided to get us started and buy us a hen, when they found one for $7 in San Francisco's Chinatown:

Some of us were ticked off, but we decided to go ahead with the backyard chicken thing anyways. So we built a coop, and now we want to introduce some hens that will actually lay eggs, which was our entire reason for chickens in the first place.

I have a few questions:
1) Is this hen worth keeping, or should we just butcher her? She hasn't laid any eggs in the two weeks we've had her, but that could be just because she's alone.
2) Is there anything we need to worry about when we introduce new hens? Is our Chinatown hen likely to infect the others with diseases?

Thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Stephan

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

H Stephan,
First:

Wow, that's quite the gift! I'd keep it if I were you... you don't know that it won't start laying later in the year. As for disease, you may want to watch her for a month, and if she looks healthy and doesn't have any parasites, proceed to add more. You'll enjoy it!

 

[Backyard Hencam]

Don't you just love it when people give you and animal.

They may have created a problem without really meaning too! Keep her if you like her. She looks pretty young so may not have started laying yet or is just going through an adjustment. Chickens are flock animals and she'll be happier with companions but the lack of mates will not keep her from laying. Wait as suggested until you're sure she's free from disease then add to your flock! Best of luck!

 

[rriveramri]

Looks like a Road Island Red. This should be a good egg produces. She does look young

 

[rriveramri]

Looks like a Road Island Red. This should be a good egg producer. She does look young

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Rhode Island Red. Like the state.

She's probably just new to your place, and needs to get settled and accustomed before she'll start laying. Otherwise she's just fine but yes you might want to get her checked for any diseases or lice. They won't harm you, but they could pass to other poultry that may be around.

 

[Stephan]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I'm glad to hear that Dorothy may eventually be able to earn her keep

.

About checking her out for diseases: are there any websites or threads you could point me to that have tips on how to do that?

She seems to be fairly happy now (for a chicken) especially after we built her a coop. She was not looking too good for the five days we had her under a tarp draped over chicken wire when it was raining, but that was almost two weeks ago now.

 

[tammyd57]

She could be a young Red Sex Link hen, in which case, when she IS old enough to lay, she'll give you lots of nice big eggs!
She's very pretty! When you see her comb and wattles start getting a darker shade of red expect her to start laying within a couple of weeks.
Good luck with your new girl!

edited because I forgot how to spell

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I'm going to say she's either a New Hampshire or a red sex-link of some kind. She's not yet in lay, perhaps too young still. A good looking pullet.

.....Alan.

 

[Koolduck]

A.T. Hagan :

I'm going to say she's either a New Hampshire or a red sex-link of some kind. She's not yet in lay, perhaps too young still. A good looking pullet.

.....Alan.

I agree...New Hampshire...I want some of those eventually!​