New house came with a huge unmanaged flock. Help!

Advertise in the craigslist pets section that you have fresh whole cleaned chicken carcasses. There are people who feed their dogs raw meat who will snatch them up. If you have a meat grinder capable of grinding bone, make a meat and bone mince. Raw feeders will pay good money for that.

 

Welcome! What a mess! Can you stage a roundup at night with flashlights and long handles fish nets? Will some of the neighbors help? Animal control? 4H or any other clubs? I'm horrified for you here, and would want to clear the decks as soon as possible. Try with food to entice some birds to the coop and run, and maybe keep them. Malnourished hens can't be laying many eggs, and with more hours of darkness, most won't produce now. Mine have a light on in the coop from 4 am to 8 am every morning, so they get about 14 hours of light per day, and lay eggs all winter. For the culled birds; zoos, or raptor rescue centers may love to have them. Then there's craigs list too. Good luck, Mary

 

You mentioned the type of food that the previous owners had feed to them. Would it be possible for you to get that same type of food and put it in the coop run? After some go in, you could shut the door. Chickens are easier to get at night after they roost for the night. Hopefully you could start grabbing some of those roosters then to help thin it down.

If you have to off some of them but don't want to eat them, the desert cleans itself. The vultures will clean them up.

 

I'm sorry you were left to deal with that mess. I'd clean the slate. Trying to salvage what was an unmanaged flock will be a huge undertaking and one that is likely doomed to failure with ongoing health problems for the birds at the very least. Sanitize the coop before you bring new birds in.

 

I have to agree with AllynTal. The flock is all over the neighborhood. Either the hens (if they are even still laying at all) are laying the eggs elsewhere, or their egg laying time is done. Since none of the roosters had been culled, chances are if there are any younger breeding aged ones, by now they are all inbred, or at least will be in the future. Best to start over with new chickens, and know what you have.

 

I feel your frustration & disappointment - 2x AllyTal & BlueBaby

 

Show a picture of birds, roosting site(s) and area they range. I can not provide sound advice based on information given.

 

I agree with the general consensus that clearing out the mess and starting over would give the best outcome. Inbreeding mentioned, disease, malnutrition, etc etc... You might be able to gather a few hens worthy of saving, but it sounds like a huge undertaking, and it might deter you from truly enjoying a flock of good meat and eggs

If it were me, I'd scratch it and start over. I might even be tempted to put the ad in Craigslist and maybe mention free meat in exchange for helping catch them. That will at least maybe help get rid of all the roos.

Wow, I'm feeling very bad for the chickens... And your neighbors! They must be very patient people; I get mad at mybown chickens going where I don't want them in my own yard!

 

What a mess! The hens are probably laying somewhere you can't find the eggs, or not laying at all because of too many roosters. The previous posters gave some good ideas for getting rid of them. Roosters go first, keep a few nice ones if you want to work with this flock but get rid of most. Inbreeding isn't a big problem for chickens, unless they have bred for many generations.

How big is the coop?