Rescued Hen; Questions.....

[Swbertrand1]

She's a good looking girl, and I see no obvious problems with her either.

Let her clean herself up once she gets wet in the rain. Chickens are pretty good about doing that on their own, and the smell will likely subside too. Her head may have dipped when bathing her from her feeling so good in the bath that she fell asleep - chickens do that when they're comfortable and getting "massaged".

If she came from less than ideal conditions, quarantine her for 30 days to be sure she's not passing something on to your other birds - this can be tough if she's by herself, but it's a necessary thing to do.

+1 on Red Sexlink - she looks just like ones we've had. Do you happen to know her age?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

She's a good looking girl, and I see no obvious problems with her either.

Let her clean herself up once she gets wet in the rain. Chickens are pretty good about doing that on their own, and the smell will likely subside too. Her head may have dipped when bathing her from her feeling so good in the bath that she fell asleep - chickens do that when they're comfortable and getting "massaged".

If she came from less than ideal conditions, quarantine her for 30 days to be sure she's not passing something on to your other birds - this can be tough if she's by herself, but it's a necessary thing to do.

+1 on Red Sexlink - she looks just like ones we've had. Do you happen to know her age?

Ok. Thanks so much for the help!

No, all I'm doing is trying to guess by looking at her. Do you have any guesses on her age? She's been laying average sized brown eggs that I don't think are pullet.

 

[speckledhen]

What I would do is bathe her with a very mild shampoo and give her a blow dry if you haven't. Don't hold the dryer too close and keep it moving on a very low heat. Chickens seem to love that , believe it or not. ( you may have done that already) Pay special attention to her bum when you do. Make sure she doesn't have lice/mites. I'd treat her for those plus worm her using something like Valbazen or Safeguard. That's really all you can do. Don't use antibiotics or anything like that on her. Just give her good food and water and see how she does. DEFINITELY quarantine her away from the air space of your other birds for a month.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

What I would do is bathe her with a very mild shampoo and give her a blow dry if you haven't. Don't hold the dryer too close and keep it moving on a very low heat. Chickens seem to love that , believe it or not. ( you may have done that already) Pay special attention to her bum when you do. Make sure she doesn't have lice/mites. I'd treat her for those plus worm her using something like Valbazen or Safeguard. That's really all you can do. Don't use antibiotics or anything like that on her. Just give her good food and water and see how she does. DEFINITELY quarantine her away from the air space of your other birds for a month.

I gave her a bath and blow dried her already, and checked for mites, which I didn't see any. As far as worming, where can I get those things? Can I get them from Amazon?

 

[JustBabyMargo]

I gave her a bath and blow dried her already, and checked for mites, which I didn't see any. As far as worming, where can I get those things? Can I get them from Amazon?

Yes that’s where we got our Safeguard from! Not sure on the Valbazen though! Just beware that when deworming you cannot eat her eggs for awhile! I don’t remember exactly how long but maybe someone else remembers!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Yes that’s where we got our Safeguard from! Not sure on the Valbazen though! Just beware that when deworming you cannot eat her eggs for awhile! I don’t remember exactly how long but maybe someone else remembers!

Ok! Thank you! I think it's for two weeks....

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Ok! Thank you! I think it's for two weeks....

Oh yeah probably!

 

[Swbertrand1]

I gave her a bath and blow dried her already, and checked for mites, which I didn't see any. As far as worming, where can I get those things? Can I get them from Amazon?

If there's a Tractor Supply Co or a local farm feed store, you'll find those products there. If you don't have one close by...,

you can find Safeguard here:
https://www.jefferspet.com/products/safeguard-dewormer-goats-125ml?sku=I6SK&msclkid=e3c871be442311174e3410b15e40babd&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NX_NTM_Shopping_Smart_All Products&utm_term=4583451677085417&utm_content=All Products

and Valbazen here:
https://www.jefferspet.com/products/valbazen-broad-spectrum-dewormer

An internet search may yield better pricing, shipping, etc, but that's up to you.

Dosage can be found here (refer to posts #2 and #9 in the thread linked below):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/safeguard-dosage.1437427/

 

[azygous]

Provide the hen with a dirt bath and she will bathe away her rank lingering odor.

Quarantine can detect some diseases, but chickens can carry some avian viruses and never show symptoms. That doesn't mean they can't pass it on to your flock. It's a risk one takes importing an adult chicken into a flock from unknown or dubious sources.

You can have a fecal float test done with gram stain tests for bacteria. This would likely be costly, but it would tell you if she has worms or is harboring a high amount of bacteria such as salmonella and E-coli.

 

[NatJ]

concerned about Salmonella. I know nothing about that, and whenever I've heard of it, it's been because of bad living conditions. Do you know if there's anything I should do just in case she has it or something?

If you're worried about Salmonella, I would suggest you cook eggs before eating them, wash your hands after handling the chicken, and not let her live inside your kitchen.

(Yes, those are probably obvious, but they are fairly effective at making sure people don't catch Salmonella. If the chicken seems fine, you don't really need to worry about Salmonella hurting her.)

More information about Salmonella and chickens, from the US Center for Disease Control:
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-21/index.html