Store Lady Gave Me A Hen. Does She Look Ok?

[Serenity30]

I am not sure if I have to post this here or some where else. But here goes.

I went to the store today to get some items. The cashier lady knows I have chickens etc. She told me she was waiting for me to come back to the store. I asked her Why?. She said my kids have a pet chicken (hen) that they don't want anymore because they have a new pet Guinea Pig. I told her sure, I would be glad to take her. Later today I went to go pick her up( 10 minutes away). My jaw dropped when I seen what she was housed in. She was in this 3x2 mesh wire type cage her husband had built and sitting on a wooden stand. They had it setup under their back porch. I was going to bring the cage with me, but when I seen the filth caked up and wet under it on the stand. I set it back down and asked her if she was tame. She said yeah, so I opened the door and picked her up. She stayed calm in my arms. I immediately noticed that she was soaked. I asked her why she was wet. She said the kids like to spray her down with the hose. (omg) I didn't say anything because I didn't want to start a argument. The lady gave me the feed she had for her in 2 containers and off I went. When I got home with her I did a check over. Her feet look good, no injuries. Just that the under feathers on her was drenched and almost matted up. I set her on the floor and wanted to see if she was hungry or thirsty. I opened up the feed containers and noticed instantly that it was the high protein game starter. I mixed up some chick starter and hen scratch for her and she went to eating like she hasn't eaten in days. It was the same with her water.This is the best picture I could get of her while she was eating. Does she look ok to you guys/gals? I am not even sure what breed she is. She is a real sweetheart considering how she was kept and treated. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !!!

Her feed was in a bowl. She flipped it over to eat off the floor.

 

[DanasChicks]

Hi Serenity30,

After reading your story I just went wow... as I am sure you did. She looks fine. It may take her a few days to clean herself up and regain some of her natural beauty, if she was penned in such tight quarters she didn't have room to do it herself. I can't tell enough to say what breed she is by the one photo, but she doesn't appear to be sick looking.. just hungry and thirsty.. give her some space and another flock mate and she will be glad you rescued her. Post more pictures, you'll probably notice that she'll clean any matted feathers herself or you can always give her a bath and blow dry her. They like it, just be sure to not get any water around her face and beak and blow her dry on low heat only.

Take care.

 

[Serenity30]

Thank you Danaschicks. She seems to be adjusting well in the coop with my current flock. No aggression from the baby chicks and 4 older hens we have as of yet. I will monitor their activity for a few days. I put her in while most of the flock was roosting and half asleep. She does seem pretty healthy considering. I thought about keeping her away from my flock for awhile before putting her in. But she needs some other chickens to be with. All alone since they got her and they got her as a chick. I have a good feeling that she will be very happy to have a large coop, large square run, variety of correct foods and other chicken company. I will try and get better pictures of her tomorrow and post them. Thanks

 

[Manningjw]

Some people shouldn't own animals, but I imagine some of that is coming from how much we spoil our chickens. If she is eating and drinking OK I imagine she will be just fine. If possible I would have her in a pen next to the other chickens so that they can become acquainted before she is introduced into the flock. I imagine there will be a fair bit of picking on a solo new comer that has never been around another chicken before.

 

[Serenity30]

Thanks. Surprisingly she is doing well with our flock. She is hanging around the other smaller hens that I have. She is even showing the other hens how to lay in the lay boxes. I think she got our rooster ( Bob) all thrown off. His calls or off from the normal times he does it. He is dancing In front of her, side stepping and keeping a close eye on her. I think he has fallen in love. Lmao. I will post a picture of her in the what breed is this thread to find out what kind she is.

Here is a better picture of her and a picture of Bob checking out what she was doing.



we also noticed this morning that her middle toe claws are gone.

 

[Ohgrr]

That is cool. I got a quartet of young chickens from a woman at our local feed store. I was used to my brilliantly shining iridescent birds but the ones I got were dirty, pecked and kind of mangled. One has three toes that look to have been broken at one time, but she walks fine, thank the Lord. Another had most of his tail feathers pecked away and the tip of one toe is missing. The Sultan was filthy and her leg feathers were matted and torn. The WC Polish with the broken toes also had bald spots in her crest which I couldn't tell if they were from molting or damage. The only attractive bird was the WC Splash Polish I got. Long story short, after having them for about six weeks now they look much better. Of course the missing and deformed digits can't be fixed and my poor little roo won't get his tail to fill out properly until he molts but they are doing great! You did a great service to that lovely hen!

 

[Shark Akhrrana]

Yay for saving chickens.

 

[Serenity30]

*Update* Miss Fanny is doing well. Keeping everyone else in order. She seems to like attention. She eats treats from my hand and doesn't mind being petted.
Her feathering has cleared up well and her tail feathers are filling in. I am still not sure what breed she is, but she is doing great progress. Yay Miss Fanny !!

 

[mpgo4th]

Looks like a NH cross to me with the dark tail feathers. Anyway she's a great bird in a great home now. God bless you for what your doing.