Need Reassurance & Guidance

[New to Chicken]

@New to Chicken I don't know that there is a real time line. Take the cue from her. If the hand feeding is going well and she is coming to you for treats, maybe sneak in a pet/stroke or two on her body while she's nibbling. From there, you can move to picking her up (football style) and holding her for only a couple minutes. Continue to gradually increase the hold time.

Another trick is to sit in the coop run and read or do something quiet...you just want her to get accustomed to you. At this point, you are not trying to touch/hold her. Sounds like your current pen doesn't allow for that and am not sure if your upcoming coop and run will.

Be aware though, not all chickens want or enjoy being handled. Thus, you may not be able to completely turn her into a lap chicken. Are you planning on getting her some friends. Chickens are social/flock animals and prefer to have other chickens around.

Yes, we are planning on getting another chicken and have reached out to a local farm animal store to get a bird, similarly low in aggression. She said we just need to keep checking back. We read these Polish are low in the pecking order and want to match that. My daughter would really like a silkie pullet. Thank you for that reminder!

 

[SulkyBantam]

That's great and silkies are sweet + beautiful, hope you can find one. Good luck!

 

[New to Chicken]

If we have a hard time finding a silkie of similar age, should we consider getting a younger chick? I think I've gotten conflicting ideas about an age gap being positive and negative.

 

[New to Chicken]

I'm glad you found a few things in there helpful. No worries if you can't fit in there, just hearing and seeing she isn't alone will probably be good for her. One thing to remember is to keep her treats under 10% of her total daily intake. PicturesView attachment 2424745View attachment 2424747 for inspiration:View attachment 2424745View attachment 2424747

How lovely!!! they are exquisite. I'm curious if there is a guideline re. how much feed we should be giving her a day. We've basically been giving her small scoops (about a quarter cup) and watch to see if it's depleted. If it is, then we give her more. This probably happens twice a day. On top of that we give her a few blueberries, baby kale and now the cheese shreds.

 

[3KillerBs]

How lovely!!! they are exquisite. I'm curious if there is a guideline re. how much feed we should be giving her a day. We've basically been giving her small scoops (about a quarter cup) and watch to see if it's depleted. If it is, then we give her more. This probably happens twice a day. On top of that we give her a few blueberries, baby kale and now the cheese shreds.

It's perfectly OK to free-feed your chickens. Just fill up the feeder and let her decide how much to eat.

As a general rule, only Cornish X meat birds need restricted feeding. Layer and ornamental breeds usually know how much to eat.

 

[OmnipotentOrpington]

Yeah, they normally only eat what they need to. A Silkie would be a good choice, as they are one of the most docile breeds, and if you need help finding one, I'd recommend looking at the buy sell trade threads to find one in your area. It's generally not a good idea to keep two chickens together who are so far apart in age, so try your best to find a mature pullet. Pictures would be awesome!

 

[bobbi-j]

When you get the new coop (hopefully you’re not going to go with a prefab), attach a run to it. Tall enough that you can walk into it, and enough room that you can put a lawn chair in and sit in it. Then do as others have suggested and sit quietly in the run for as many days as it takes to gain her trust. Chickens are prey animals, so they will instinctively run or try to escape when you grab, chase or try to catch them. In my opinion, handling her as much as you can right now is not the best option.

 

[Allthefloofs]

How lovely!!! they are exquisite. I'm curious if there is a guideline re. how much feed we should be giving her a day. We've basically been giving her small scoops (about a quarter cup) and watch to see if it's depleted. If it is, then we give her more. This probably happens twice a day. On top of that we give her a few blueberries, baby kale and now the cheese shreds.

Our vet suggested 100-110 grams per day for a smaller breed bird, 120 for a larger breed, but she is a juvenile I think what you are doing is fine. Some of the very experienced on here can give you more precise directions, but I usually free feed mine until they are adults. We only weight now because we had a girl who over ate and her liver became fatty and bled out. She was a large breed and really liked her feed.

 

[New to Chicken]

Thank you so much for all your advice. We are wondering how old she really is, as my daughter has read that feeding a pullet "layer feed" can be harmful. Can any of you give an estimate based on this picture taken a week ago?
Also, re. The coop, we would like to build our own which would allow us to stand up in, but are not sure how to go about it, so for now we will be taking the donated one, which is bigger than her current. I think our situation is different than some chicken owners because she literally just walked into our backyard and busy lives unplanned. It wasn't like we could prepare before we got her and brought her home.
Also, she is losing feathers. I understand that chickens do molt, but since we "think" she may be a pullet, not full grown, would she be molting at this age? Could she be sick? We had lots of Santa Ana winds and smoke yesterday, wondering if that stressed her out?

 

[SulkyBantam]

I don't have a problem with layers. But no harm in giving her all flock or flock raiser until she lays.
Yes, she's probably moulting, and looks healthy in the photo, but keep an eye on it.
You can order or buy coops, but be sure they are good quality.

Overall, she looks good, but she could well be lonely and a friend is not a bad plan. The silkie idea is a cute one, but if you can't get one, try finding her any kind of pullet for a friend.