Stray chicken

[petaB]

Hi, I am all very new to this. But today on the way home from school I saw a stray chicken on the side of the road. My kids and I caught her and brought her home and put her in our coup. We don't as yet have chickens but are waiting on 6 Australopithecus being delivered in the next two weeks. I have been told that our coup is big enough for ten so an extra won't be a problem. I've spent the afternoon observing her and she does seem to be perfectly healthy. Eating scrating around. She is missing a few tail feathers but she does look like she's been roughing it, a little dirty and very hungry thirsty tired.
Can anyone tell me if we should wait a little longer for our australorps or will two weeks be enough time for any diseases to be noticible??
Thank

 

[Animol]

The average time spent in quarantine is two weeks so as long as she isn't a carrier then that'll be enough time. You might also want to check for lice and other parasites.

 

[petaB]

Thanks for your reply. I've read about mites getting up under the scales on their legs, but her legs look fine. I'll check her out tomorrow more thoroughly just so she can settle in a little more. Will she be ok on her own for two weeks

 

[Animol]

She should be fine as long as you take care of her basic needs, she might be a little lonley but otherwise fine, i'm sure she can wait for two weeks though you may need to give her alot of TLC. You can check her vent for lice eggs, they are found in white clusters at the base of the feathers and if she has them then get some powder. You could also concider getting some de-worming stuff but you can wait til the newbies arrive then de-worm all of them. I assume you are getting fully grown/pullets so there shouldn't be too much trouble intergrating them.

 

[petaB]

Well I'm please to announce that she laid an egg this morning. She slowly getting used to us but won't let us rich her yet. Slowly slowly. Can I treat her for mites and lice as a precaution?

 

[Animol]

Looks like she's happy where she is if she's laying eggs
If you want to treat her for lice then you can get a powder that you can put in her bedding/ where she lays her eggs which destroys their eggs. I don't know much about mites other than red mites but if you want to you can get some stuff to sprinkle about the place like smite powder mite control which is safe to be ingested by children/animals if they manage to get their hands on it. You can also get barrier sacly leg spray if your worried about sacly leg but I doubt she has it if her legs look fine.