New Member, New Chicken Owner

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Italian-gal

Italian-gal

Hatching
Sep 7, 2016
6
0
7
Antioch, CA
Good Morning! I became a chicken owner about a month ago. My realtor rescued 2 chickens from a house she sold. The previous owners just left them!! I took them in and turned an unused dog run into a chicken run. It has a coop and a gate. I let the chickens out 2-3 times a day and they love to roam around. I don't know much about chickens or what kind I have. I'm guessing both are about 6 months old as my red one (Betsie) started laying eggs about 5 days ago. My other one (Louise) is black and white. I'm slowly learning about raising chickens and have read a couple books and visited Backyard Chickens many times. I love my girls! They get all excited when I go into our backyard and are at the gate waiting to be let out. They let me pet them and will eat out of my hand! I posted something this morning asking for advise. Betsie has not been herself the last 3 days and is even worse this morning. She wouldn't come out over her nesting box and her comb is not standing up. Please give me some much needed advise!
 
Well, either she is sick or she is broody. Some hens' combs lean over; that is not a problem! Does she have eggs under her? It seems a little weird that she would be broody after just starting to lay though. If she doesn't get better in a few weeks though I would make another thread about it!
If you want to know what breed they are, you can post pictures! :)
 
Italian-gal said:
Good Morning! I became a chicken owner about a month ago. My realtor rescued 2 chickens from a house she sold. The previous owners just left them!! I took them in and turned an unused dog run into a chicken run. It has a coop and a gate. I let the chickens out 2-3 times a day and they love to roam around. I don't know much about chickens or what kind I have. I'm guessing both are about 6 months old as my red one (Betsie) started laying eggs about 5 days ago. My other one (Louise) is black and white. I'm slowly learning about raising chickens and have read a couple books and visited Backyard Chickens many times. I love my girls! They get all excited when I go into our backyard and are at the gate waiting to be let out. They let me pet them and will eat out of my hand! I posted something this morning asking for advise. Betsie has not been herself the last 3 days and is even worse this morning. She wouldn't come out over her nesting box and her comb is not standing up. Please give me some much needed advise!
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Hope Betsie will get better soon. Did you get answers to your other post?
 
Will she eat and drink if you bring the dishes close to her. Some hens going broody will refuse to leave the nest (even if it just has invisible eggs) and starve themselves.

I wouldn't wait a few weeks to see if she is better. , a truly ill bird would be dead by then. You could post on "emergencies, diseases, injuries, cures, thread," explaining in detail how she is behaving etc. Is she sitting on eggs? Do you make her go out to potty?
 
Unfortunately my Betsie passed away a couple hours after my post. I called the vet and he thought she might be dehydrated. She wasn't eating or drinking much and I had to force water in her every day for a few days to make sure she got some. He suggested I make an electrolyte mix so I ran to the store to get all the ingredients. By the time I got back she was gone. My other chicken, Louise is healthy and is doing quite well though. I don't have any personal pictures of my chickens but can post 2 I took off a website. Betsie was red and Louise is black and white. She's a big girl, almost twice the size of what Betsie was. When I first took them in Louise was shy and scared. In the past week she has certainly gained confidence though! Runs back and forth in front of the gate of the chicken run when she sees me, follows me around the backyard, and will take food from my hand. 2 days ago she jumped on my lap and tried to drink some of my coffee! Not sure white type of chicken she is or how old she is. She hasn't laid an eggs yet. Maybe looking at the picture you can give me some information about her?
 
Welcome to Backyard chickens! I hope you enjoy it and the camaraderie here and everybody that goes nuts over chickens (me being one of them....) Have fun! And ask questions! I am sorry you lost Betsie.
 
I love it! Have learned a lot and am still learning lots of things. Betsie's passing was a sad time for me though I am glad Louise is doing well. I was wondering what would happen if I added another chicken right away. I don't want a chick and was thinking of seeing if there might be another chicken around 6 months old to bring in before Louise gets used to being by herself. They got along well and Louise is happy so I don't want to wait too long before I add another chicken to my run. I also thought about waiting until the spring and bringing a couple of chicks in. Wondered how that would be for Louise.
 

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