Resuce chickens!

[BrightFarms]

My husband and I brought home 11 rescue chickens, they were living without food and there were WAY too many roosters in such a small space, needless to say the hens are missing a ton of feathers on their backs and the Polish chickens are missing head feathers. We brought home the 11 we were interested in, although we could have brought home another 15 big roosters!

We have ISA browns right now in the actual chicken coop, and the new birds are in the barn under quarantine, although the sheep and goats are none to happy about their new barn mates. There are 5 Buff Orpintons and 1 rooster together in the largest stall, 2 Polish roosters that seem to get along (they were kept together at their old home) in the largest rabbit hutch, 1 RIR and 1 unknown hen in the large dog kennel, 1 Polish hen in another rabbit hutch and then another unknown in another hutch.

Does this seem okay? I know chickens are flock animals and they can all see each other, but I don't want to stuff everyone into the large stall and watch them start pecking, or the roosters to start fighting again.

I'll try to post pictures of the missing feathers and the unknown chickens after work, hopefully someone can tell me what they are and let me know if they can even be saved. They all had a very good appetite last night and this morning, and all their poops seems normal.

Any ideas on how long it will take for them to grow back their feathers? Any medicines I should get into them? Tips or tricks? Some of the hens literally look half plucked on their backs!

Thanks for all your help! I've been a long time lurker on these forums but this is my first post after I realized I need some help!

Thanks again! Pictures to come when I get back from work.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I think you may have too many roosters, otherwise you could probably let them out together. You need to get them wormed with SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer or fenbendazole first of all. Dust them for lice and mites with 5% Sevin dust. Then put a good vitamin/probiotic in their water 2-3 days a week. Pick up some Corid, since coccidiosis can be a problem with new chickens once they get onto the ground where new strains may be present. After all that watch them for at least 30 days in quarantine for any respiratory symptoms: watery eyes, gurgles/rattles, sneeze, swelling of the face or eyes, or nasal mucus.

 

[Cluckysnap123]

I have roos from a hatchery that supplies hens to the cruel and bad egg industry and I took lots they are useless to the food industry. I am vegan

 

[Sarevan]

Welcome to BYC.  I think you may have too many roosters, otherwise you could probably let them out together.  You need to get them wormed  with  SafeGuard  Liquid Goat Wormer or fenbendazole first of all. Dust them for lice and mites with 5% Sevin dust.  Then put a good vitamin/probiotic in their water 2-3 days a week.  Pick up some Corid, since coccidiosis can be a problem with new chickens once they get onto the ground where new strains may be present.  After all that watch them for at least 30 days in quarantine for any respiratory symptoms:  watery eyes, gurgles/rattles, sneeze, swelling of the face or eyes, or nasal mucus.

I agree with Eggcessive. Also to help with feather growth there is feed called feather fixer has something in it to help prevent lice/ mites, or go with a higher protein feed for awhile to help them with feather regeneration. For the hens dont forget to give oyster shell for free choice and grit for all of them.

Who knows how malnourished the birds really are, they will be stressed from new surroundings. Definetly watch them as abundance of feed & water could cause some crop, intestinal issues if they were made to get by on so little before.

 

[justusnak]

Hi and welcome. Thank you for taking in those poor birds. The living conditions you have them in is perfect, for now. Like others have said...worm them, de-lice them, and feed them a high protein diet. You can supplement their diet with hard boiled eggs, dry cat food, and any meat scraps you have from the kitchen. ( they really DO love chicken scraps cooked of course) It will most likely take a month or so for new feathers to come in....so make sure they are warm if the temps get too low. Especially if they are in raised cages. Looking forward to pictures of your new babies.

 

[BrightFarms]

Thanks for all the replies! All the chickens have been dusted for mites, dewormed and sprayed with PoultryAid (Tractor Supply was out of Blue-Kote). Here's a picture of one of the hen's back, those black spots are new feathers right? I've never had to deal with sick/injured chickens before.



Here's the group of what I'm thinking are Buff Orpintons (and the RIR that decided to escape while I was cleaning the cage and threw herself in with the Buffs), almost all the hens have bare backs, but some are worse than others. Should I saddle all the hens? The Buff Orpinton roo is with that group of hens, but I haven't actually watched him try to mate with anyone, although he is a very protective rooster and complains whenever the sheep come to check out whats going on. Sorry for the bad picture but hopefully you can get the idea. That roo is always like "What are you doing? Better not be trying to mess with my ladies!" All the hens seem much happier now that there's only one roo, instead of close to twenty!



Any ideas what breed some of these guys/gals are?

This one my husband picked out to rescue, she's the one in the first picture with the bare back.



I'm pretty sure the one below is a Golden-laced Polish hen (She laid an egg this morning! I was very surprised!) She only has a small bald spot on her head.



The next two are Polish roosters of some kind, I'm just not sure what color to call them. Both are slightly bald and missing their tail feathers.

I was partial to this one, in the sun her (I hope, she looks like a hen) just glisten the prettiest green. She's only missing a couple of feathers.


Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Debs55]

The black one kind of reminds me of a black australorp with the way her feathers show green in the light but her head feathers look different than my australorps so I could be totally wrong

 

[justusnak]

Hi, and first let me say thank you for taking in those sweet babies. I too do rescue.... and have come across many in this condition, and worse. At first glance I would say they look fairly healthy considering the condition you said they came from. As for how you are keeping them, that is fine! They will need time to heal, before mingling with others. Since they can see and hear others, they will be fine. The feathers will grow back a lot faster than one would think, with proper feed. Make sure you up their protein a bit. Some people offer dry cat food.... I personally offer mine scraps of meat left over from our dinners. ( they love cooked chicken) The black hen looks to be a cross of some sort, maybe has polish in her? She is beautiful! If the rooster is not constantly riding the hens, I would leave the saddles off. Again, thank you for helping them.