- Jul 8, 2013
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Ok, before you think I am nuts, let me explain the situation. I live in North Providence RI, a suburban town with out any farm land.
Our nightmare neighbors behind us, who we unfortunately have a poor relationship with due to lots of other circumstances, got chickens near the beginning of the summer. (Early May-ish). He built a rather impressive looking coop and seemed to have about 4-6 hens from what we saw over the fence. We didn't mind as I thought they were actually cute, quiet, and never smelled.
A couple weeks ago he dismantled the coop but the chickens were still in his back yard. We figured he was scraping it to build a new one.
My husband and I went away this past weekend (Fri - Sun). My cousin came over those days to give our cat his twice daily thyroid medication, and was greeted Friday evening by a chicken on our front lawn. She called me and I told her to ring the doorbell for our neighbors but they never answered. She waited an hour but they didn't come home. She tried again twice Sat and Sunday morning before we got back from out mini vacation. They still haven't come home. Yesterday evening, (Sunday), we pulled up from our vacation and she came walking over as we were unloading our trunk. I lead the chicken into our backyard and gated her in so she wouldn't get run over or come across a dog. She was quite thirsty, I do not know where she has been finding water since Friday as it hasn't rained and my cousin said that the chicken was in our garden every time she came over. I left a voicemail and an email for animal control explaining our situation.
Animal control came by today to check the chicken and informed me that keeping chickens is illegal in our town. They left a notice on our neighbors front door. He went in the back yard and found that all the chickens, coop, coop material and feed were gone. He was going to give them a few days asked if I minded keeping the chicken in our fenced in back yard as our town isn't equipped to house chickens at the animal shelter and he didn't want to lock her into a metal cage near cats and dogs. He wanted to get them to admit ownership before finding a permanent home. He is assuming that my neighbor might have "released" the chickens from the yard before going away....there is a wooded park that our street empties out into, maybe he thought they would enter it.
I told the animal control officer that was fine for her to stay for the few days and that I had offers from coworkers in nearby towns with out bans no livestock/chickens to take her in for a permanent home. He said that if I could house her for a few days while they tried to reach the neighbors then I would be able to rehome her.
I went online last night and found your link about what to feed chickens - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens and made her a mix of chopped carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, raisins, bits of bread, and cheerios. In a separate dish I also put in a teaspoon amount of plain yogurt. (This is what I had fresh in the house from being away. ) I let her nibble the yogurt for a couple minutes then took it away and let her have the rest. I have had trouble locating a chicken feed that I can use for her in our local pet stores. They all look at me like I am crazy!
She is quite friendly and follows me around the yard clucking at me and pecking at my rain boots (learned to put on boots after she showed a lot of interest in my feet when wearing sandals!) This evening she is having very watery, loose stool and I am concerned about her. I have shade over about 1/3 of the back yard and it is in the mid 80*s and quite humid today. I misted the ground in one corner of the yard in case she preferred slightly damp grass and ground to scratch in. I have seen her scratching through out the day and eating bugs - my husband is approving of this lol.
Any advice for me and Henrietta? I don't want to do anything to harm her! Again, she is not going to be with me for more than a few days but I want to make sure those are a healthy and stress free few days!
Greeting us at the car...
Entering my back yard like she lives here
Food!!
Caught the cat's attention! Don't worry, they are all indoor cats!
Thinks she owns the place
Our nightmare neighbors behind us, who we unfortunately have a poor relationship with due to lots of other circumstances, got chickens near the beginning of the summer. (Early May-ish). He built a rather impressive looking coop and seemed to have about 4-6 hens from what we saw over the fence. We didn't mind as I thought they were actually cute, quiet, and never smelled.
A couple weeks ago he dismantled the coop but the chickens were still in his back yard. We figured he was scraping it to build a new one.
My husband and I went away this past weekend (Fri - Sun). My cousin came over those days to give our cat his twice daily thyroid medication, and was greeted Friday evening by a chicken on our front lawn. She called me and I told her to ring the doorbell for our neighbors but they never answered. She waited an hour but they didn't come home. She tried again twice Sat and Sunday morning before we got back from out mini vacation. They still haven't come home. Yesterday evening, (Sunday), we pulled up from our vacation and she came walking over as we were unloading our trunk. I lead the chicken into our backyard and gated her in so she wouldn't get run over or come across a dog. She was quite thirsty, I do not know where she has been finding water since Friday as it hasn't rained and my cousin said that the chicken was in our garden every time she came over. I left a voicemail and an email for animal control explaining our situation.
Animal control came by today to check the chicken and informed me that keeping chickens is illegal in our town. They left a notice on our neighbors front door. He went in the back yard and found that all the chickens, coop, coop material and feed were gone. He was going to give them a few days asked if I minded keeping the chicken in our fenced in back yard as our town isn't equipped to house chickens at the animal shelter and he didn't want to lock her into a metal cage near cats and dogs. He wanted to get them to admit ownership before finding a permanent home. He is assuming that my neighbor might have "released" the chickens from the yard before going away....there is a wooded park that our street empties out into, maybe he thought they would enter it.
I told the animal control officer that was fine for her to stay for the few days and that I had offers from coworkers in nearby towns with out bans no livestock/chickens to take her in for a permanent home. He said that if I could house her for a few days while they tried to reach the neighbors then I would be able to rehome her.
I went online last night and found your link about what to feed chickens - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens and made her a mix of chopped carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, raisins, bits of bread, and cheerios. In a separate dish I also put in a teaspoon amount of plain yogurt. (This is what I had fresh in the house from being away. ) I let her nibble the yogurt for a couple minutes then took it away and let her have the rest. I have had trouble locating a chicken feed that I can use for her in our local pet stores. They all look at me like I am crazy!
She is quite friendly and follows me around the yard clucking at me and pecking at my rain boots (learned to put on boots after she showed a lot of interest in my feet when wearing sandals!) This evening she is having very watery, loose stool and I am concerned about her. I have shade over about 1/3 of the back yard and it is in the mid 80*s and quite humid today. I misted the ground in one corner of the yard in case she preferred slightly damp grass and ground to scratch in. I have seen her scratching through out the day and eating bugs - my husband is approving of this lol.
Any advice for me and Henrietta? I don't want to do anything to harm her! Again, she is not going to be with me for more than a few days but I want to make sure those are a healthy and stress free few days!
Greeting us at the car...
Entering my back yard like she lives here
Food!!
Caught the cat's attention! Don't worry, they are all indoor cats!
Thinks she owns the place
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