New to Chickens - Question(s)

[TexasSam]

Could be a mix. I am thrown by the blue legs and lack of comb. Interesting birds for sure.
Leghorn have very yellow legs..... Hamburgs have the blue but are built way different with distinct colors ........

They are kind of wheat color. Pretty but hard to figure out.

What do you think a leghorn,Ameraucana mix would look like

 

[21hens-incharge]

@TexasSam
That could be very interesting. I would think they would have nice sized combs but not ginormous ones...
You know..........someone could have cut these birds combs off. I forget what the official term is for it .... Dubbing maybe?

These are leggy enough to be leghorn mixes perhaps.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Their legs do look blue or greenish. After more reading here - and watching them - I decided to put the babies in a wire cage inside the coop.

Last night, I finally managed to get the older birds to get into their nest box and shut the door. By then, there wasn't much daylight left so I had to use the net to get the bigger baby to the coop. The smaller one went on her own. My plan was to let the little ones eat and then out of the coop to roam, before letting the big birds out. FAIL - the babies did not want to leave the coop. I ended up letting the big birds out the side door into the pen instead of the coop door. It is about 30 inches or so - Roo jumped right out, the hen came out later - as usual.

BUT - I AM SO PROUD OF THIS HEN - AGAIN! I put a small branch for them to use to get in / out the front door and she used it to go in and lay her egg! She couldn't get to her Red laying box because the babies were in the coop.

I decided this was not fair to Roo & Chicky (the Hen), so tonight I got a wire cage that I had for the goat and equipped it with perches, a swing, food & water and inserted the two little ones. Chicky & Roo were very happy to get back in their coop and went to bed without issue!

Now, the bigger one - I am still convinced it is male - anyway, it did NOT want to go in & is NOT happy that he is confined. [My net is too big with all the stuff in the coop - I actually caught him with my hands ~ shocking ~] Before coming in for the night I put some hay in the bottom of the cage and he was jumping into the side / sticking his head thru the bars. The smaller one is much calmer. Is it OK to leave them in this cage? It is in the corner of the coop opposite of the nest & laying boxes.

I don't think quarantine is possible. Where the pen is - shares the neighbors coop / fence line. The only thing separating them is the chainlink fence. I noticed the other 4 (that did not jump the fence) sleep together in a corner, a few feet away from the others.

HONEST ANSWER PLEASE - Would the two babies that chose our yard be better off with the other four & the neighbors birds? Our entire coop is about 8 foot by 7 foot and we have plenty of room for a flock. It just doesn't seem fair to Chicky & Roo to keep them out of the coop that they just got. It doesn't seem fair to keep the babies in a 36" wire cage either especially when the neighbors are free in the very large pen. The other four may be really scared too? I really don't know which is best for them. Neighbor has two roosters too.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Honestly I think you are handling all this very very well.

You are correct. Quarantine is not really possible.

The crazed bigger chick will calm with time.

As to whether they are better off over there or not I really don't know.
What I do know from what you have shared is that they seem fairly irresponsible with their old flock massacre, the rooster and hen ending up on your side, the bringing in and not quarantining or even containing new ones that are now also on your side.......

Honest answer is in my opinion no they would not be better off over there.

You have taken on, buying feed, buying a coop, realizing it was small and building onto it, helping the lost chickens that showed up in addition to the two discarded ones.

It is my opinion that you are a far better caretaker for them then your neighbor.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Thank you 21Hens. So, the little ones will be OK left in the wire cage? Most things I read here say they need to be separated for a month???

 

[21hens-incharge]

The month thing is for quarantine which is not possible and at this point is pointless.

Quarantine would be far away from your existing birds, different clothes just for tending them and such. Kind of treating it as a hospital situation pending health evaluations, worming and lots of other things.

I would not keep them caged that long. Anything they may be carrying has already been dosed to your birds. Your neighbor saw to that by setting them loose without quarantining so not your doing or fault.

The biggest thing will be getting them calmed down and comfortable around your other birds.

If in fact the larger one is male that may be impossible. Can you get some good up close pics of his face and above so his tail, body and neck show? That will greatly help in sexing the bird.

So long as they are not running away over the fence and are able to get food and water without your current birds attacking I think you are already on the right path. You may not even need to cage them so long as they are not being run off of the food by the others.

I hope this makes sense. It has been a long day here.

 

[Enchanted1s]

I think Roo will try to keep them from food and water. He is acting very aggressive towards them. Roo also would not go into the nest box to sleep when the little ones were out. He wanted to perch outside of the box (in the coop) to make sure they could not come in.

Today, when trying to encourage the little ones to go out of the coop - Roo tried to come chase them out, but I didn't let him. The little ones had no desire to leave the coop either - they are afraid of Roo too.

I will try to get some better pics tomorrow. In this pic, he is on the bowl.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Hard to get a good pic of these two - here is the top view. Can't get them to look into the camera LOL.

 

[Enchanted1s]

He sure acts more like a male. I decided to let them sort it out themselves during the day. We will see how things go tonight. Here's some better pics.

 

[Enchanted1s]

I don't know about these birds! Just when I thought tonight was going to go smooth... I was able to catch the young ones and put them in their cage. I thought Chicky & Roo would then go to bed, but no - again they wanted to sleep in the trees! This is the first night since finishing the walk in coop that Chicky has not gone in willingly. I got them both with the net and put them in the coop One step forward and two steps back. Well Roo actually runs to the coop when he sees the net! Chicky had done SO good! She laid her egg in the appropriate Red laying box again today.

Everyone roamed freely today. The young ones stayed inside or very close to the pen. There were no fights. The bigger of the little ones is still very scared any time he sees Roo, but Roo did not seem aggressive towards them today. Here's a close up of the one I think is a boy @21hens-incharge .