So, I have no idea if this is the right spot for this question. I don't have chickens myself, but my one of my neighbors recently got some. I live in Henrico County VA, and I'm pretty sure chickens are not allowed in residential areas in our county, but I haven't made a big deal about it and have been trying to mind my own business. However, I'm concerned for their well being and I'm not sure if I should be since I know nothing about raising chickens. So this neighbor has had them for around a month now I think. When they first got them they just had a dog pen in their backyard that they put 3 chickens in. This is a standard chain link 6 foot tall dog pen with no roof or anything. I thought maybe that was temporary and that they would be getting a coop or something, but they haven't. They are in this roofless pen all day with no shade or anything. They have one Tupperware bowl set up for water that is always knocked over. They have started putting make shift metal rod perches in the pen, but still nothing for shade. The other day I saw one of the chickens out of the pen roaming the back yard and now I think that one is gone/lost because I only see two in there today. And the two I see in there today look pitiful. One is just laid out baking in the sun. And the other I saw my neighbor catch because it had gotten out of the pen too and it looks like his solution was to put the chicken underneath a plastic milk crate all day to keep it in. The poor thing is just stuck inside a milk crate with no water or anything. I don't know what I should do. Is this typical chicken care? Or is this as cruel as it looks? Do I call animal control? Do I ignore it? I feel like they should have a proper chicken coop for them or something and that these neighbors don't know how to care for them, but I also don't know what will happen to the chickens if I call animal control because I know they aren't really allowed here.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
