silly question...UPDATED WITH PICTURES ADDED!!!!!

[Tugger1]

Ok I have a silly situation.

A guy I work with asks me if we want a chicken since we live on a farm and have chickens already. His son found it in a parking lot in the city (go figure). So I ??THINK?? it is a Polish Chook (black). It doesn't look that old and he/she (I shall call him Stan for now) is sitting in my office at work as I type.

Now I have 10 RIR and 10 BO's that are about a month old and a bit smaller than this one. Should I be able to put Stan in there with them? I certainly don't want him in with the 45 Cornish Giants.

What do you all think. I wish I could get a pic of this little bugger. He's deifinately got the Polish Chook 'fro and one of his feet is messed up, but that isn't stopping him from escaping from the box he is in right now.

I will take one when I get home hopefully you all will know what he is!!

 

[gritsar]

No such thing as a silly question. Your question is in fact a very legitimate one.
You need to quarantine him first and foremost. It would be tragic for your entire flock to become sick from something the polish was carrying. 30 days is considered the minimum. I recently had to add some meat chicks to the brooder full of layer chicks, but it was a special situation and so far I've just been lucky.

After the quarantine period, it would be best to make slow introductions thru a fence or other divider so that your existing flock can get used to the polish's presence. Do you have a rooster in your current flock? That might be a whole 'nother can of worms.
Good luck to you and the polish.

 

[newchik715]

Definitely quarantine. You don't know where that bird has been or what its got. You don't want to introduce a foreign animal to any of your animals.Do you have somewhere you can do this?

 

[Tugger1]

Not really. I guess I'll have to figure that out.

I was more worried about the fighting part, didn't even think about sick.

Another question, his feet are totally screwy. His nails are like really long so can I trim them? Is there something specific I should do or will they wear down once he gets out and about?

 

[Sillystunt]

i use dog nail clippers to trim my silkies. Just go as far back as you would on a dog and doesn't hurt them!! Post pic's you luck duck, wish i would find chickens

 

[Tugger1]

Well Stan is actually a Stanette. The little bugger shat out an egg when I was going to take her pic for you guys to see.

Needless to say the office is in an uproar right now...What do you do with that egg? EAT IT!!!!

Anyway here are some pics of her. Let me know what you think she is as well as about her feet. Also can you tell the age from the size of the egg? I know that our last hens gave us little eggs for the first couple and this one ain't that big. (see pics)

 

[DragonEggs]

She looks like a crevecoeur. or a silkie mix. Dunno about age though.

 

[swordgeek]

As Sillystunt said, don't cut the nails too short! Like with your dog or cat's nails, be careful of cutting the quick, or she'll bleed all over the place (not to mention be open to infection). My house chicken's nails got super long over the winter because she couldn't scratch all day, and I had a girl from my vet's office come by to trim them for me. I was too scared of hurting her. She used a cat nail trimmer, and also gave me a little container of Kwik-Stop (from ARC Laboratories), which is a styptic powder used to stop bleeding pretty much instantly. Kind of like using a styptic pencil when you nick yourself shaving - just dip the toe into a little powder. When they're really long like this, it affects the way they walk, and it looks pretty uncomfortable for them, too. Can't be good for their knees.

As for your bird, I dunno... I have a white-crested black Polish rooster, and he doesn't have any tufts of feathers on his legs! My crevecoeur hen (see my profile pic) has a similar headgear to a Polish hen, and looks a LOT like your picture - except she's pure black, and she doesn't have tufts there either, and her leg skin is fairly black. Maybe yours is a mix of crevecoeur and something furrier?

 

[gritsar]

She's pretty

I would definitely keep her. Do you have a large dog kennel? One bird really doesn't need that much if she can get out and stretch her legs during the day.
Wish you were closer. I have several very large dog kennels that would make perfect little coops.

 

[Tugger1]

Quote:
Yeah Manitoba Canada is a little far from Arkansas!!!

Yes I do have a large dog kennel and that what I was thinking of putting her in for now, it's just WHERE to put the kennel. We don't have a basement and I doubt hubby wants her in the house (he may have to suck it up though)