Hey there, I'm Nikki. I'm 20 years old and live in Sydney, Australia. A few days ago my family adopted a chicken my family, and some neighbors, found roaming the streets. No idea where she is from originally but im not interested in returning her because her 'spurs' have clearly been sharpened to a point- i don't even want to think about why! I think she's a New Hampshire Red hen... i'll post a photo later. we have had chickens in the past and were planning on getting some more soon, but Patsy came to us before we could prepare for her properly. I'm a newly keen gardener I have 2 rabbits, who are totally confident upon meeting all new animals- even ones that look a bit dangerous- and Bey, Honey and Patsy just checked each other out and left it at that. I also have a dog.. a little Tenterfield terrier. Titan is a rescue- from an abused background. He's so wonderfully gentle and loves his bunnies. (im confident in letting them roam and play together with minimal supervision- just to control any rough play). He's terribly inquisitive and just wants to get to know Patsy, but every time he gets close enough she flaps and pecks at him.. which scares him and he'll bark and growl at her- no biting or chasing. I'm more concerned for my dog than the hen.. hopefully this is just an adjustment period. Patsy is great with the human family and after just a day of hand feeding and cooing, she's completely comfortable with us. We plan on getting her a friend of the same species- maybe a ISA brown or a Australorp black. Patsy is quite thin, her breastbone feels sharp to the touch and its quite prominent when i hold her. i'm working on that. she isn't laying yet.. i assume because she's thin or her new surroundings. She has free range of the backyard all day and is secured a previously unused avary at night- which needs TLC, but i think will be quite suitable.i'll post pictures of that too. If anyone has any advice on fattening Patsy up, training her to leave the dog alone or anything else, that'd be great. looking forward to getting to know some fellow chook owners !
Hi Nikki welcome to BYC! You said that she had sharpened spurs and I was thinking she may be a rooster! Because I've never heard of females getting spurs sharpened! I hope you have lots of success with your new member to your family!
Hi Nikki! So glad you joined the BYC coop! WOW! AUSTRALIA, that's really cool. I always wanted to go there. Your girl kinda sounds like a rooster, with the spurs being large enough to sharpen. It also sounds like Cock fighting to me. But I'm far from an expert. If that's the case, the little guy's had a rough life up till now. so glad you saved the poor thing. There's lot of good peeps on here that would be happy to help you. Feel free to ask lots of questions and post even more pictures. good luck with your baby.
G'day and welcome to Backyard chickens. Patsy may be a Patrick instead. We have a large Aussie community at BYC, and the "Australia, six states and one funny little island.," thread
