Hey...so, I've been lurking here for a long time with the thought of perhaps getting some birds someday...well, it's someday.
So, the story behind this, and why I'm completely unprepared for this:
My dad's coworker found a chicken wandering her neighborhood, and it let her approach it and pick it up and take it home. They couldn't figure out whose it was, and couldn't keep it. They kept her for a few days feeding her canned vegetables like corn and green beans before convincing us to take her. So...tonight, we got a chicken. We also have no coop, no run, but luckily she's a house-chicken, apparently.
They found that out when she begged at the door every night until they brought her inside and put her into a dog kennel for the night...
She appears to be pretty healthy, insofar as she doesn't seem to be skinny, has no obvious wounds, no noticeable ticks, is eating and drinking and pooping readily, with full feather coverage and the feathers seem shiny and healthy, and she appears very calm and curious about her environment, so I take that to be all good things.
However, her beak isn't shaped quite how it should be. The upper beak is MUCH shorter than the lower beak, and she does have difficulty eating things from the ground, although a deep bowl or my hand appear to help with that, and she is clearly not sensitive about it, based on all of the curious pecking. There does not appear to be any jagged or sharp edges, and it doesn't have the look of a broken beak (I researched it before I made this post), and she doesn't seem to favor it in any way, but the lower beak is quite a bit longer than the upper one.
Is this some sort of deformity, or is this how a "clipped" beak looks after it has been healed for a long time? I have photos. (As it turns out, it is very difficult to get a close up photo of a chicken that's in-focus.)
Photos at the bottom.
Does this look okay?
Also, there are some black specks on her comb. Or his comb. I assumed a she, because it looks like a she to me, but you guys are the experts here. Could those black specks be mites? I never saw any of them move, so it could be dirt. I just wanted to see what you guys thought. Should I get some DE for her, or...what are your recommendations? I plan to get a coop and run set up this weekend.
So, the story behind this, and why I'm completely unprepared for this:
My dad's coworker found a chicken wandering her neighborhood, and it let her approach it and pick it up and take it home. They couldn't figure out whose it was, and couldn't keep it. They kept her for a few days feeding her canned vegetables like corn and green beans before convincing us to take her. So...tonight, we got a chicken. We also have no coop, no run, but luckily she's a house-chicken, apparently.
They found that out when she begged at the door every night until they brought her inside and put her into a dog kennel for the night...
She appears to be pretty healthy, insofar as she doesn't seem to be skinny, has no obvious wounds, no noticeable ticks, is eating and drinking and pooping readily, with full feather coverage and the feathers seem shiny and healthy, and she appears very calm and curious about her environment, so I take that to be all good things.
However, her beak isn't shaped quite how it should be. The upper beak is MUCH shorter than the lower beak, and she does have difficulty eating things from the ground, although a deep bowl or my hand appear to help with that, and she is clearly not sensitive about it, based on all of the curious pecking. There does not appear to be any jagged or sharp edges, and it doesn't have the look of a broken beak (I researched it before I made this post), and she doesn't seem to favor it in any way, but the lower beak is quite a bit longer than the upper one.
Is this some sort of deformity, or is this how a "clipped" beak looks after it has been healed for a long time? I have photos. (As it turns out, it is very difficult to get a close up photo of a chicken that's in-focus.)
Photos at the bottom.
Does this look okay?
Also, there are some black specks on her comb. Or his comb. I assumed a she, because it looks like a she to me, but you guys are the experts here. Could those black specks be mites? I never saw any of them move, so it could be dirt. I just wanted to see what you guys thought. Should I get some DE for her, or...what are your recommendations? I plan to get a coop and run set up this weekend.
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