Rescue Chicken Update and a ?

[Wise Woman]

Well my little EEer chicken that I adopted on Friday, laid me an egg already! I wasn't expecting her to lay any eggs for weeks. She has also started eating like a pig. While she does not seem to be thrilled with the lay crumbles, she loves the corn, (which is what I think she got fed at the horse rescue place)the starter mash, tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, yogurt and scrambled eggs. I gave her her morning snack and am going to wait until later today to give her any more snacks to see if she will eat some of the crumbles. I will be worming her this week and this afternoon, I am going to try to bath her (she stinks) and then put her in a bigger crate. She was flailing around a lot when I got her, so I had put her in a medium size crate to help her feel more secure. Don't know if that even makes sense, but it seemed like the thing to do. Anyway, after a few weeks in the house with us, I am going to them move her to my brooder box out in my shed and then eventually out with the girls once I am sure she is healthy. It will be a slow process, but hopefully she will enjoy living here with us.

She has stopped charging me when I open the door to put food in. She doesn't let me touch her yet, but I just keep talking softly to her through out the day and she seems to be realizing that I am putting good stuff in there for her to eat and she waits for me to set the bowl down and take my hand out and then she attacks it. LOL!!!

My question is, her poo smells really, really bad. It is very stinky. All my other girls poo together doesn't smell this bad. Am I introducing too many foods to her? It has been like that since I picked her up. I noticed it on the ride home. Some of it looks normal and some is a little runny, but it all smells horrible. It is just a brown color, nothing weird. I would appreciate any thoughts on this situation. Perhaps I should back off on the fruits and veggies? Try giving her more yogurt? Just wait and let her eat the crumbles? Thanks for any advice you might have on this matter.

 

[jbowyer01]

I rescued a couple of marans and their poo was horrendous smelling for a couple of days. I'm guessing it was because their bodies werent use to having good stuff LOL. After a couple of days it went away. I think its kinda like their bodies are expelling all the yucky stuff and figuring out what to do with the healthy stuff.

 

[Wise Woman]

I hope you are right. I cleaned her cage out tonight and haven't smelled anything too bad yet, so maybe she is getting her system all cleared out. I sure hope so. Next up is worming.

 

[welasharon]

Quote:
Yes I have found the same thing with some I rescued. I too think it is from crappy food.

 

[hcppam]

Quote:
Yes I have found the same thing with some I rescued. I too think it is from crappy food.

X3

 

[Wise Woman]

That is very interesting. I will have to remember that in case I ever rescue any more chickens. I never thought about that. She is eating like crazy. She doesn't look or feel skinny, but being in with two roosters, perhaps it was difficult for her to get the food she wanted. She is calming down as well. She let me carry her around today! She didn't freak out or anything. I was so happy about that. She had some lettuce, cherries and a little cheese for a snack this evening and is eating her lay crumbles and drinking her water with ACV in it. I will be glad when she grows her feathers back in as she looks very pathetic being half bald like she is. She is very quiet too. She did get upset when I ran the vacuum cleaner yesterday, but that was about it. So far, so good I think.