i just rescued some chickens and need some help

BekahBear

Songster
11 Years
Jan 3, 2010
199
14
176
Arizona
Sorry in advance for the long post. And I’m not sure if this is the right section for this thread.. if not, mods please move it to where it should go.
I just rescued 5 chickens yesterday evening and I need some help. I have never owned chickens before but I couldn’t leave these guys where they were. I got them from a guy on craigslist that didn’t want them. Here’s a little bit of their story: the guy bought them as baby chicks from the feed store to feed his snake. The snake didn’t want them so he’s been “stuck with them” (he says he thinks he’s had them a couple months maybe more). they have been living on his back porch in a little Rubbermaid tub with a homemade screen top. The tub it 22” long by 14” wide.(I don’t even know how he fit all 5 birds in there) It had a big water dish that took up half of the tub(it’s the same dish from the pics..i cleaned it out) the bottom of the tub was covered in about 4”+ of feces…I could barely tell there was a water dish in there till I dumped the tub. He said he’s only cleaned it a couple of times since he got them…he would dump a cup of water in the dish each day(the dish was full of muck so im sure they never had clean water) and he would throw a couple handfuls of chicken feed in there(he gave me the rest of the bag of feed). I got them home and immediately got them out of the tub. I put them in a large wire dog crate for now..we’re hoping to get a chicken coupe/pen set up/built in the next day or so. I figured the crate is a lot better place to keep them in than that tub until its finished. They look pretty good considering but they are pretty dirty. i picked a lot of muck out of their feathers but they still have a fair amount on them. I don’t think they’re full grown since they are still small but I don’t know much about chickens. I do have a few questions. What should I do to make sure they are healthy? Will living in the conditions they did have any long term effects? Is there anything I can do to get the dried muck out of their feathers or should I just leave that alone? Can anyone tell from the pics if they are male or female? Does anyone have an idea how old they might be or what kind/breed of chickens they are? I just want whats best for them so any information is very welcome. ill have to get some pics of the tub they were living in so you can see how small it is. Well here are the pics of them . (a couple of our puppies decided to check out what these creatures were in their crate lol)


10047532.jpg

10047502.jpg

10047592.jpg

10047632.jpg
 
warm bath and a blowdry.... apparently chickens love the blowdryer!! On the other subjects others here on the forum are much more aware of what else they may need.
smile.png


The one with the green legs looks like an EE... maybe you will end up with tinted eggs
smile.png

Good luck... where abouts are you?
 
Last edited:
hello

congratulations on your pretty birds.


i have seen threads on here about people giving their birds baths. you could use the search up in the right corner of this page and skim through them. lots of helpful info on this board.
 
what a wonderful person you are!!!
Congratulations on your new babies!
I think, and I am not any kind of expert, but I think you have a production Red (RIR) and I think the Barred ones are Dominiques. The other 2 look to have green legs, so maybe they are EE's?
What lucky birds they are to have you find them!

clap.gif
 
I'll let the pros handle the advice on the chicks health, but I am glad they have a nicer home than what they brooded in
sad.png
Poor babies!

The two multicolored ones look just like two of my Easter Eggers.
The black and whites are probably barred rock.
The red one looks like it may be a Rhode Island Red.

They look about 12 weeks to me, but again, I'm kinda new to this stuff as well. I don't know how to tell the sex in those breeds, except that I think by that size you can tell if you have an EE rooster and yours look like girls.

I'd guess if he went into a feed store to buy them they were already sexed as hens when the feed store bought them from a hatchery, but that's not 100%


As far as cleaning them, I would give them a bath and check them over for mites, etc....


Good Luck!
 
You obviously live somewhere warm, so do not worry about cleaning them up. If you give them an outside run a rain and dust baths will take care of that.
They look mixed breed to me, I see Easter Egger but I am no expert. I would guess 6 to 8 weeks old.
You are doing a great job so far.
 
thumbsup.gif
Good job on the rescue. You can bathe them or leave them be, it's really up to you. We bathe a lot of our chickens and make sure to blow dry them until they are fully dry before letting them go outside. I am not an expert but they look young and all female. As for breed, I would do a search; a few look to be EE "Easter Egger" and I am not really sure on the others, these are not breeds I have.
I highly recommend the search feature, it have been very valuable to us. Good luck and feel free to message me or anyone who might be able to help, everyone is very friendly.
Oh and Welcome to BYC!
 
Welcome, BekahBear! and first off, kudos to you for rescuing those poor birds from a horrible situation.
hugs.gif
You've got some pretty birds there; they look like maybe 3 mos. old or so... (guessing). It looks to me like you have 2 barred rocks, 1 Rhode Island red or sexlink, and 2 pretty Easter Eggers. For having been in such deplorable conditions, they actually look pretty good, all things considered. They'll need a sheltered place out of the wind & weather (and not outside in that crate, because raccoons can reach right through the wire grating and pull their heads off (and trust me, if the 'coons find the chickens, they WILL kill them). Mine like veggies (a whole cabbage does wonders for bored chickens!), cooked rice, leftovers (but not spoiled stuff), apple peelings, etc. I sometimes fix some warm oatmeal on really cold days; my gang seems to be very thankful! I don't know if you've ever had chickens before, but the chickens 101 has some great information in it. Best of luck with your beautiful new girls; may they live long healthy lives and bless you with beautiful eggs come spring! (they are too young to be laying yet, but should kick into laying this Spring). Congratulations to you, and if they could hug you, I'm sure they would. It's very nice to meet you!
big_smile.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom