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.
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.