URGENT- Rescued dumped chickens, concerned about disease

[Coralietg]

3 chickens and 2 roosters were dumped just down the road from us. One of the roosters had been hit by a car, so I tried to catch them. The 2 roosters I caught last night. I just tried again, and caught one of the females. I have over 50 chickens. I don't want to risk any infectious diseases and this doesn't look great to me.

 

[cavemanrich]

First I would like to say you did a very humane thing rescuing these chickens.

Now as to the possibility of disease, here are my thoughts.
Whoever it was that dumped these chicken most likely was fed up with chicken keeping. If they were diseased, I think the heads would have been removed.
To quarantine these chickens now would be pretty much too late. You already handled them and so if there was some kind of bug on them, your flock already has it if you went to them.. Obviously I am talking about microscopic bacteria. They may have mites or lice, but that is treatable. and not life threatening.
And finally my personal view,, The Creator watches over those that do good.

You would be surprised how chickens recover from trauma they experienced.
Keep us posted on their recovery.
WISHING YOU BEST

 

[Coralietg]

I haven't been out to my chickens since catching this one. I washed myself with Dawn, mostly because I was all in poison ivy trying to catch the buggers.

The two roosters "look" OK. Obviously the one had been hit by the car isn't too happy. They are both missing tail feathers and are very skinny. I already have a tractor full of rescued copper marans so I have these three in cages. I don't have the best longterm solution for them. The black pullet, her eye concerned me and I was worried it was a sign of Marek's.

 

[Folly's place]

I hope you have kept everything separate for the sake of your flock! There are serious biosecurity issues here, but getting these poor birds in a safe place needed to happen too; good for you! Read up on how to really isolate these birds to protect yours, and good luck! It's possible that there's a rescue group in your area that does chickens. Mary

 

[Coralietg]

I have no idea about any chicken rescues around here, we are in a very rural area. There were two other pullets that I couldn't catch. We have lots of raccoons around here, so the odds of them surviving is low.

I've just been out to check on them, the rooster that was hit by the car has died. I figured he would die, but I didn't want it to be at the side of the road.

 

[microchick]

The eye looks nasty. Sorry, not a very medical term but it is badly infected and full of puss. Poor thing. I do not think she is long for the world.

I agree, bless you for trying to save these abandoned birds. Good Karma indeed.

 

[Coralietg]

The rescues are in cages under the carport. I keep my chickens to the other side of the property, about 400ft away. I never buy chickens from anywhere other than a hatchery as I am scared about diseases. This is only the second time I have taken chickens in, albeit grudgingly. Makes me sick that someone would dump chickens! It makes me mad that they would dump potentially diseased chickens near mine!

 

[Coralietg]

The eye looks nasty. Sorry, not a very medical term but it is badly infected and full of puss. Poor thing. I do not think she is long for the world.

I agree, bless you for trying to save these abandoned birds. Good Karma indeed.

She is acting pretty OK. Eating, pecking around, I just gave her water, but her eye and head looks awful. I haven't done anything as intervention due to concern about disease; I am researching first.

 

[bettymae83]

She is acting pretty OK. Eating, pecking around, I just gave her water, but her eye and head looks awful. I haven't done anything as intervention due to concern about disease; I am researching first.

I was wondering how the hen was doing? Did she make it? Did you ever figure out what it was?