- May 13, 2007
- 777
- 5
- 161
I took a trip out of town for a couple of days with a friend and we visited his relative that has chickens. I cannot tell you how horrified I was when I saw his chickens!
Im sure there were about 35 to 40 chicken in the coop and run, and they looked terrible. Most of the birds had feathers missing (bare skin showing most around the rear area) one poor bird had only wing feathers. Im new to chickens, but I dont think this is normal. I wonder if its because there are too many in one coop and are pecking each other? Are they molting? And another thing, I didnt see any food in the coop. He had young and old birds alike in the same coop. I thought young birds need a constant supply of food? Also, I didnt see crushed oyster shells for the laying hens and their water supply was horrific. These birds do not free-range at all which was very depressing to me!
This person is an older gentleman and, out of respect for my friend I didnt say anything. I do think that his generation views keeping chickens in a very different light than we do here on BYC.
Im sure there were about 35 to 40 chicken in the coop and run, and they looked terrible. Most of the birds had feathers missing (bare skin showing most around the rear area) one poor bird had only wing feathers. Im new to chickens, but I dont think this is normal. I wonder if its because there are too many in one coop and are pecking each other? Are they molting? And another thing, I didnt see any food in the coop. He had young and old birds alike in the same coop. I thought young birds need a constant supply of food? Also, I didnt see crushed oyster shells for the laying hens and their water supply was horrific. These birds do not free-range at all which was very depressing to me!
This person is an older gentleman and, out of respect for my friend I didnt say anything. I do think that his generation views keeping chickens in a very different light than we do here on BYC.
