I guess I have 4 new chickens...

[Dona Worry]

Between the arrival of chicks by post, and hatching my own for the first time ever, I expected all my new arrivals would be tiny. However, upon letting out my flock this morning, I noticed an unfamiliar face at the door. I have no clue what kind of chicken this red bird is, but I am very sure I've never seen her before. A quick glance inside the coop, and there are THREE MORE strangers. A silver laced Wyandotte, an EE, and this black hen that I think is a Jersey Giant. Where did they come from? Who put them in my coop in the middle of the night? Well I don't know, but meet Ruby, Ethel, Wisteria, and Jersey.

 

[IvysAnimals]

That's a little weird Maybe someone saw that you had chickens and hey didn't want theirs so ( illegally ) went and left them on your property, opening the chicken's house / coop. I have no idea on what to say, honestly.

 

[Dona Worry]

That's a little weird Maybe someone saw that you had chickens and hey didn't want theirs so ( illegally ) went and left them on your property, opening the chicken's house / coop. I have no idea on what to say, honestly.

They were not there at 9pm last night, and at 6:30 am, here they are.
So, yep, middle of the night abandonment. Oh well, they can have new home here.

 

[IvysAnimals]

They were not there at 9pm last night, and at 6:30 am, here they are.
So, yep, middle of the night abandonment. Oh well, they can have new home here.

I hope someone's not crazy and goes and says that you stole them or something when they were abandoned...I've met a few crazy people before or people talking to me they were going to steal my ducks...I hope they do great!

 

[Callender Girl]

Certainly weird! Would make me uneasy that someone was skulking around and getting into my coop. Guess it's better than someone stealing your chickens.

Hope all are healthy; they're pretty girls!

 

[3KillerBs]

That's a little weird Maybe someone saw that you had chickens and hey didn't want theirs so ( illegally ) went and left them on your property, opening the chicken's house / coop. I have no idea on what to say, honestly.

That's certainly better than just dumping them, but crazy.

Certainly weird! Would make me uneasy that someone was skulking around and getting into my coop. Guess it's better than someone stealing your chickens.

Maybe time to put a padlock on the coop?

 

[theoldchick]

Wow! That's kinda creepy! I'm blaming Santa Claus. Seriously though, I'd get a game camera just incase you are gifted more chickens.

 

[Dona Worry]

So they didn't really go outside yesterday, I wonder if they were not free ranging before? But this morning all 4 have ventured out.

 

[Dona Worry]

So, a bit of a sad conclusion to this saga.

I was looking for a specific message in my "message request" area in Facebook messenger, when I discovered multiple messages, unnoticed by me, dating from middle of May on.

Long story short, the hens belonged to an elderly woman in town. Around a year ago I took in a rooster that had started to attack her, we had some back and forth where she asked if anything happened to her if I wanted her hens? I said sure, and thought no more of it.

Well, she passed away early May. Her husband, who had a stroke several years ago, is apparently being moved to an out of state assisted living/nursing home, where their daughter lives with her family.

It was the daughter that messaged me, basically she knew I had agreed to take the birds, but apparently not WHEN I agreed to take the birds. According to the messages, she stopped by the house during daylight hours and couldn't find anyone a couple of times, and then with clock ticking and needing to move her disabled dad while grieving her mom, just left them in the coop and hoped for the best.

And, all is well. The chickens are a beautiful addition to the flock and are all doing well. So, not a very exciting update, but at least 1 mystery is solved.

 

[theoldchick]

God love ya for taking them in.