Sorry in advance for the long post. And Im 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 couldnt leave these guys where they were. I got them from a guy on craigslist that didnt want them. Heres a little bit of their story: the guy bought them as baby chicks from the feed store to feed his snake. The snake didnt want them so hes been stuck with them (he says he thinks hes 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 dont even know how he fit all 5 birds in there) It had a big water dish that took up half of the tub(its 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 hes 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..were 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 dont think theyre full grown since they are still small but I dont 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)
I just rescued 5 chickens yesterday evening and I need some help. I have never owned chickens before but I couldnt leave these guys where they were. I got them from a guy on craigslist that didnt want them. Heres a little bit of their story: the guy bought them as baby chicks from the feed store to feed his snake. The snake didnt want them so hes been stuck with them (he says he thinks hes 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 dont even know how he fit all 5 birds in there) It had a big water dish that took up half of the tub(its 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 hes 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..were 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 dont think theyre full grown since they are still small but I dont 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)