vlass
In the Brooder
My 18 week old polish hen went missing early yesterday morning and we found her at a neighbors house that evening. The fact she even left our property is mind boggling as she won't so much as venture 5 feet from the rest of the flock. The neighbors did their best to care for her while they decided what to do( they didn't know we had chickens so they were trying to figure out if they keep her for their kids as a pet or try to find the owners) but I believe she had a very rough day. She's my skittish chicken and won't let anyone near her and keeps herself a good distance from all other animals and our kids but their kids were handling her quite a bit and I'm not sure how much water or food she got. When my husband brought her home she was "content" to just be held which is not her nature at all so I believe she was in shock. I set her up in the crate in the mud room with egg scrambles, her feed, and electrolyte water and she seemed to be better. Eating, drinking, walking slowly around, making noise here and there. I left her overnight and this morning took her out to the flock to see if she wanted to be with them but she's keeping her distance a bit. She still approaches them but is walking sort of slow like she's looking around for anyone who might hurt her, occasionally crouching down but then will straighten up and trot off again. she fluffs herself periodically or stretches her neck and wings and shakes herself out a little like she is trying to shake the human touch off of her lol. She's pooping fine, still eating and drinking fine but she's not herself. She's usually running around like a mad woman. Should I bring her back in? Let her try and readjust out there? I'm not sure if she got hurt but I checked her over and nothing seemed odd.
