Hi there

Welcome to BYC :frow It's really nice of you to sign up out of concern for your neighbour's chickens! I see you and someone else mentioned above that the hen may be molting and this is the time of year for it, so that is the likely cause. As for them visiting and messing on your property… Have you mentioned this to your neighbours and asked if it's possible for them to confine the birds somehow? (Which they really should be doing. Chickens are lovely, but having them free ranging all over the neighbourhood is inconsiderate)
Inconsiderate as all get-out because chickens poop EVERYWHERE :eek::barnie!
 
@staceyj Y oh are a hoot!!

I too say :welcome.

I am thinking a bit outside the box.... Or rather about ways to get them INSIDE a box.

You mention finances being tight so here is my idea....

Pallets are often available free, craigslist may have a dog house available free or nearly free. Perhaps offering to help the neighbor build a pallet coop and run can help confine the birds AND form a friendship.
I am thinking the pallets could even BE the fencing. Maybe painted really cute or colorful?

Maybe let the neighbor know you would be sad to see the birds hit by a car or eaten by a predator like a hawk or raccoon.
:goodpost::clapClapping family feud style from here!
 
:frowWelcome! Whether you have chickens or not, you've come to the right place.
May I say high five :highfive: to you?
You are an awesome animal lover and considerate neighbor!
Come live next door to me!
I have a high fence and keep my birds home.

I'm not an expert on these things but encourage you to have faith in the people here who will help guide you.

YES, it's possible these birds just showed up.
Unfortunately, people (i.e.jerks) dump unwanted chickens all the time.

Yes! It IS molting season and from what I understand a bird can loose a few feathers or look like they spent the night in a rock tumbler.
...and it can take from 1 to many months for the feathers to grow back.
...and that they need lots of protein to regenerate those feathers which it turns out....
YOU ARE PROVIDING, in the form of cat food!
Canned cat food which is essential for Feral cats to keep their immune system strong is also used as a tempting treat for sick or injured birds.

Hang in there til the experts get here. :oldThey'll know what to do!

Watch out, if you hang out here long enough you might wind up falling in love with chickens too. :hugs
It happened to us!

:lau-sometimes I crack me up


I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome! It's really touching for so many people to try to help me.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can really afford to be feeding chickens, too. How much do they eat? I've been mostly feeding the feral tom recently. I still need to get him neutered, his shots, and his ear tipped but I was trying to catch girls first to help prevent more kittens. The most recent feral female I got spayed hasn't forgiven me and won't come out for food now. If I leave food out, the chickens will eat it. So I sit with Muffin while he eats to make sure he gets food. I've had the chickens come up while I'm sitting there and he ran off while they tried to get the food. I know the female has two older kittens and I don't know what sex they are. If they're females I was wanting to put my funds for this to try to trap them next before they end up pregnant. But with the way things are going with the neighbors blaming Muffin, I wonder if I just need to get him done first at this point so he has his tipped ear.

I was just out feeding him a bit ago. He'll eat right by my feet but won't let me touch him yet. This is a huge improvement over just the last month. I saw him suddenly seem interested in something and carefully followed him to see what he was doing. Turns out he heard the two chickens on the other side of our driveway. I came around slowly to see that he was sitting next to an oak watching them about four or five feet away. I felt rather nervous that he was watching them so closely. Then he saw me looking at him and layed down for a few minutes by the oak before coming closer to me and showing me his belly. So I don't know. It makes me worried. I'd hate to think he might hurt them. At the same time, I'm worried about protecting him from the neighbors.

If the hen is molting, should she be removed from the rooster? I heard that chickens like to peck at bare skin of other chickens?

Also, the coop idea out of pallets. I'm not a very handy type of person at this type of stuff. How hard would it be? Also, if they had a coop, I imagine it definitely needs to be kept clean and I'm not sure if the neighbors would be committed to keeping it clean. However, they have been letting the chickens into their garage at night so maybe I'm mistaken.

One other thought. And this might sound a bit crazy and paranoid. Could the rooster sometimes try to wake me on purpose in the morning because he knows I put food out for Muffin and he wants cat food, too? I shoo them away when this happens but they still do this occasionally. Also, would it be mean to use a squirt bottle on the chickens?
 
I think a pallet run would be quite easy in the grand scope of chicken housing.

It would mean carefully selecting the pallets for like size. If you stand them up next to each other the runners can be screwed together. That can be a pain if you don't have a drill and good driver. Pre-drilling the holes with a 1/8th inch bit makes it much easier.

What part of the country are you in? That will help determine how much weather protection they need.

It is possible that someone on your states thread may be able to help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/where-am-i-where-are-you.26/

That link should help you find your states thread.

I wouldn't squirt them. They should not require much feed since there is just 2 of them. The bigger issue would be a 50 pound bag spoiling before they could eat it.

Honestly most cats will not tangle with a grown chicken. You feed the cat so it is not like he is starving and forced to be overly brave.

Do let us know where you are located so we can give the best advice.
 
I think a pallet run would be quite easy in the grand scope of chicken housing.

It would mean carefully selecting the pallets for like size. If you stand them up next to each other the runners can be screwed together. That can be a pain if you don't have a drill and good driver. Pre-drilling the holes with a 1/8th inch bit makes it much easier.

What part of the country are you in? That will help determine how much weather protection they need.

It is possible that someone on your states thread may be able to help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/where-am-i-where-are-you.26/

That link should help you find your states thread.

I wouldn't squirt them. They should not require much feed since there is just 2 of them. The bigger issue would be a 50 pound bag spoiling before they could eat it.

Honestly most cats will not tangle with a grown chicken. You feed the cat so it is not like he is starving and forced to be overly brave.

Do let us know where you are located so we can give the best advice.

I live in the Florida panhandle close to Alabama. It can be very humid here. It rains a lot during the summer in particular. We can have hurricanes. The last major one was Ivan though. We generally don't have snow though it isn't impossible.

I went over and tried talking to the neighbors. I explained about the molting and that I read that chickens don't produce eggs when they're molting. Turns out that she hasn't been laying lately.

They did seem interested in containing them and if I could find out affordable options that they'd be willing to listen. So I hope this then might work out. They've been having trouble with their own computer so I don't think I could point them online themselves.
 
Good to hear they show interest in containing them.
This link takes you to the main articles page. There is a link to coops people here have built.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/

I kinda like this one but think it will be to complicated considering your neighbor should be the ones doing a coop for their birds.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-scratch-coop.63989/

FOUND IT! The coop is over the top for your situation. Mostly I wanted you to see the fencing they did. I think pallets on their side could look similarly.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/our-coop-adventure.49050/

Of course there are literally thousands of coop designs out there.



OK lots of the videos on YouTube are annoying with loud awful music and very little useful info.
:he

I am sure you are doing way more for them then most would.

We are here to help if you need us.
 
900x900px-LL-994cc954_WelcometoBYCXtheroad.gif

You need chickens too!
 
G’Day from down under SadNeighbor :frow Welcome!

Kudos to you for being concerned about the chickens’ welfare :clap

Thumbs down to your neighbours! :smack

I too am a cat lover and have two indoor fur babies who have an outdoor run which protects both them and the wildlife.

I just wanted to say that as a chicken owner it is my responsibility to keep my chickens on my property and if one of my chickens happen to fall prey while not on my property, that is no-one’s fault but my own, including the cat who may or may not be the reason.

If it was up to my neighbours to worry about the welfare of my chickens, I probably should not have them.

Even if they did just show up on my property uninvited, if I was not able to care for them, I would make alternative arrangements for them and not expect the neighbours to have to do so.

And, if I was not looking after them appropriately and they were annoying the neighbours, I should not be surprised if the neighbours make alternative arrangements for the chickens in the form of relocating them to appropriate accommodations ;)

Climbing down off my soap box ….. :p
 

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