Rescue Chicken Questions

[Wise Woman]

Yesterday I adopted a chicken from a horse rescue place. She is some sort of banty easter egger. She had been abandoned along with two polish roosters. When they folks at the horse rescue tried to add her to their existing flock, (they aren't really chicken people, but have a mish mash flock of abandoned chickens, ducks and a peacock that all live together in one coop)it was a blood bath, so they removed her and put her in a small coop with the two roosters she arrived with. She is pathetic looking with most of the feathers on her back missing as well as some on her wings. She is not tame or friendly, but my heart went out to her for some reason and now here she is in my living room.

She does not want to be handled and I cannot try to hand feed her because each time I open the door to her little house, she rushes me and tries to get out. I cannot hold her either as she freaks out and it was a challenge just to get her into the crate in the first place. The roosters were not happy we took her! She is being pretty quiet, but you can tell she is not thrilled with her new living arrangements. She has not touched her food or water since yesterday when I brought her home. I did give her some scrambled eggs a little bit ago and she attacked them like she was starving. I have her quarantined so I can be sure she is healthy enough to put with my flock and also I am hoping to tame her a little bit as well. She is like a wild chicken at this point. I am hoping she will accept us and calm down so I can try to put her in with my chickens. I am planning to first introduce her to my little girls once they are all the same size and then introduce the 5 of them to the older flock. I always feel there is safety in numbers and do not like to introduce just one chicken. I like everyone to have some friends first.

Since I never had a rescue chicken before, I am not sure what the first course of action is. She has been feed, not real well or properly, but enough that she is not underweight. Improving her diet is a given, but she isn't in danger of starving or anything. Her poos look normal. Should I worm her just because she is new to me? I have given her some water with ACV in it as well as lay crumbles and a little scratch. She probably ate the equivalent of 2 eggs and they had a little cheese on top as well. I will be giving her some treats through out the day. Is there anything else I should be doing immediately? Does she need poly vi sol or anything like that? She does not seem sick in any way and is quite fiesty when I try to touch her. Her comb and wattles are red, but her back where the feathers are out is a pale, fleshy color. Don't know if that is normal or not as I don't have roosters either so I have never really seen hens that have been plucked by a rooster. I do know on one of my EErs, she has no tail feathers for some reason, but her skin is a rosy pink color. I appreciate any advice on this matter. Thank you in advance.

 

[gritsar]

Just good food and time. Vitamins would help. I know that when one of my EEs started getting bare-backed from a rooster, it was flesh colorerd skin showing.

Definite 30 day quarantine. Unless you are seeing worms in her droppings, I would wait to worm until she is eating well. It may be that she is just not used to commercial food.

Good luck

 

[Wise Woman]

Thank you for your advice. I appreciate that. She did eat a couple of scrambled eggs that I made her and some tomato, but she does not seem happy to be here. I haven't seen her eat or drink her food yet either. If I try to put my hand in the cage with her, she starts freaking out. I suppose she will eat and drink when she gets hungry and thirsty. I haven't seen any worms yet, but I haven't been able to get that close either, so I will be on the look out for that. Her droppings look normal otherwise from what I can see. She is in my house, away from all my other chickens. I am just going to give her some time, space and good food and see what happens. I am hoping she will calm down and eventually trust us.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

You know chickens aren't too bright so it may take her some time to realize you aren't an evil villain trying to kill her when your hand comes near. She likely does not recognize commercial food so next time mix the egg with some pellets or whatever you are feeding and she may get the idea.
Don't worry about her being happy at the moment. She is in survival mode and will take a while to wind out of that.
I would be wary if you mix her with the younger ones even though she is the same size. She has street smarts and they are just innocent young things. She may attack and terrorize them. I might try to mix all groups together at once ( in 30 days) because she may make enough commotion that none of them will have any idea what is happening. Generally banties are feisty for their relative size.
Just my opinion.

 

[foxypoproxy]

I just rescued a chicken aswell and ive had chickens over the years so i may be able to help.
I recently just rescued this polish rooster baby that almost got runover.
For a while i thought it was healthy and fine (seems fine), he ate alot when i fed him.
Over the next few days i realized such things like shaking its head alot, sneezing, vomiting, gaping mouth, runny nose, lots of cleaning itself, etc.
Poo looked fine but done let that deceive you.
This little chicken deceived my eyes because when i brought it to the vet i found it had a number of different issues.
The vet said it was extremly thin (i had no idea because it looked fine to me but you couldn't notice because its feathers make it look bigger then it is)
It had mites, a respitory infection, and some parasites.
Definitely de-worm/de-mite! I learned that rescues often pick up these sort of things.
If you have the money, maybe bring it to the vet to get it checked out? If you dont mind spending the money, it couldn't hurt, they will let you know what it may need.
Keep a good eye on it, feed it and keep it hydrated.
Be patient, ive had stubborn chickens before, with some love and care it can warm up to you :].
Ive turned really wild chickens into lap birds XD. try not to push it but talk to it alot and bond with it when you can.
I wish all the best to your little hen!

 

[Wise Woman]

Oh thank you for the help. I am most grateful. I would take her to a vet if I could find one that will see a chicken. Most won't. Now if she was a horse or a dog, I would be ok. I will keep looking though. I am going to give her a few days to calm down and get used to her new diet and then I will worm her. I am going to give her some yogurt with some lay crumble mixed in for dinner and see if she will eat that. She far she isn't doing any of the things mentioned so I am hoping they won't develop either. I just saw her take a drink so I guess she drinking, I just haven't caught her doing it. And when I change the water I did notice that it had gone down. I will keep a close eye on her and hopefully during her quarantine, she will come to trust me a little bit. Thanks for the tip on who to mix her with. I can wait and mix them all at once with no problem. Don't want the little ones getting hurt.

 

[foxypoproxy]

I called my dogs vet and they referred me to a bird vet so maybe give that a try?

 

[cobrien]

I would not wait until until you see worms in the poo to worm. Most often you will not see worms in the poo when they have worms. You would need to take a poo sample to a vet to find worms, any vet can do it, it's the same procedure as for cats & dogs. You don't need to take the chicken with you unless you want to for some other reason. Most people don't have fecal tests done, they just worm regularly. it is your choice.

I would also hold her at night when it is dim to get her used to being held, usually they are more docile at night.

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
This X1000

 

[Wise Woman]

I can worm her right away, that is no problem. I just thought I'd let her settle in a day or two before I did it. I will try holding her at night. That is a great suggestion. Since I have only ever raised chickens from chicks, I never had to deal with a strange chicken before. I am learning a lot. Thank you.