My new hens have an odor.

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Chickmagnet9

Chickmagnet9

Crowing
13 Years
Nov 16, 2011
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Hello!

This is my first time posting on this site and what a wonderful site it is so, I signed up! Anyway, I just got a few new hens. They are approximately 5 months old and boy, do they have an odor. They are clean, appear very healthy, clear eyes, nostrils, beaks, etc. They still have all their feathers so I imagine they won't molt until next season. My other hens don't smell even a little bit; never have. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Much thanks,
me.
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Welcome from the soggy side of Washington State. I am not sure of a good reason that some of the hens smell. It is possible that different breeds smell different.
 
It could just be from the diet they were on. I noticed when my roo started hanging out at the neighbor's house, he smelled very sweet. Later I found out they had been feeding him corn tortillas.
 
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OHMYGOSH!

All of you have warmed my heart. Thank you, so very much for the welcome. The odor is like rotten chicken poop from afar. It was so strong when they were having happy hour "organic, cooked brown rice" after work, I had to get up on a couple of occasions and go smell the coop. We keep the coop extremely clean but I thought well, maybe the weather makes it smell really musty. Not so. The coop smells like perfume compared to these ladies. I was thinking it could be their diet prior to coming to "The Palace" as well. I really don't know what to think. No telling what the farmers gave the poor things. Different breeds have different odors? Really? See, this is why I needed this forum. All of you R.O.C.K. BTW, I am in sunny California!

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Welcome from sunny San Diego! So glad you're here. This is a great group of folks who know chickens and are friendly to boot. It doesn't get much better than that
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That's a nasty description of their odor. There are a lot of diseases that are linked to foul (or perhaps 'fowl' LOL) smells. If you have them in with the rest of your flock, I'd isolate them until you find out what's going on. Wish I could give you more to go on - at least you've got a bump and a welcome!
 
Thank you Amy!

You sure do have your hands full. Good thing is, they really aren't the work I thought they would be. I knew I would love my girls just because they are animals and they breathe! I did not know, I would love them as much as I do and I had no idea they have such distinct personalities. I have no idea what mine are. I was told they are Rhode Island Red hybrids...with what, I don't know. They all sure do love people though. They didn't at first. When we got them, they had never touched the ground, never been outside, never slept in their own box or roost and had never been touched until it was time to change cages except the time their beaks had all been cut. It was just sickening. Is sickening. I guess you could say we rescued them at 5 months. They are all together now and I don't really know how I would separate them. We only have one coop. Now what?
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Wow - you've done such a great job with them! Rescue animals are the best - it's as if they know. And it sounds in this case that you've done such good for them - cut beaks and all (ugh!!!).
Typically you'd want to keep new hens isolated from the flock for a few weeks to make sure they're healthy. They're already in with the others so that's a moot point. If you have no other place to put them and they're already in with the flock, then I think all you can do is sit back and see what happens. Hopefully it's the nasty stuff the previous owner was feeding them. I'm voting for that -
 

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