cedargrovefarms
Hatching
- Mar 31, 2017
- 2
- 0
- 7
We live out in the country, and there is an old unused rock quarry near our house. It's a popular area to fish, and unfortunately, many people dump trash there. We went by one day and saw a chicken across the road from the quarry. This seemed unusual (no one lives nearby) so we went on by. Coming back later, we found 14 chickens that had been abandoned by the banks of the quarry. They were very tame (one came right up and wanted to be held) and they were all very pretty and expensive varieties, such as polish and silkies and etc. They looked to be about 7-8 months old. We examined them and they all appeared very healthy, except for the fact they were very hungry (poor chicks). We decided we would take them home to add to our flock of chickens, who are mostly a year and a half old, some as old as 4 years old. They got along exceptionally with our other birds, and some of them quickly made their way up the pecking order. They were obviously owned and loved by someone: they are all sweet birds, which makes us question why someone would dump them without food or water. We have had them for 2-3 weeks now.
The trouble started this morning when we found one of our original chickens, a Jersey Giant (one we had before rescuing these 14) dead on the floor in the coop. She was partly covered in shavings and was extremely stiff. We looked her over carefully and she has no visible injuries, clean bottom, no fluids running out of nose or mouth, and there was no way she could have been trampled in our very spacious coop since she was one of the bigger birds. All the other birds looked and acted normal, and we knew it wasn't a predator problem.
We have heard about diseases chickens can attract from other flocks of chickens, but this is not the first time we have introduced new chickens to our flock, however this is the first time we have had a chicken die seemingly without cause . This seems especially strange considering we have had 0 problems until almost 3 weeks after getting these new birds. What should we do?
Let me know if you need more information to give me a better answer.
Thanks.
The trouble started this morning when we found one of our original chickens, a Jersey Giant (one we had before rescuing these 14) dead on the floor in the coop. She was partly covered in shavings and was extremely stiff. We looked her over carefully and she has no visible injuries, clean bottom, no fluids running out of nose or mouth, and there was no way she could have been trampled in our very spacious coop since she was one of the bigger birds. All the other birds looked and acted normal, and we knew it wasn't a predator problem.
We have heard about diseases chickens can attract from other flocks of chickens, but this is not the first time we have introduced new chickens to our flock, however this is the first time we have had a chicken die seemingly without cause . This seems especially strange considering we have had 0 problems until almost 3 weeks after getting these new birds. What should we do?
Let me know if you need more information to give me a better answer.
Thanks.
Last edited:
