Well, my irresponsible neighbors strike again. For those that haven't read my other posts, and I'm sure there's lots of you 
I first got into chickens by way of my irresponsible neighbors. I had two pet ducks, and naturally those ducks had food. One day, I went out to check on my boys to see a hen sitting in their pen! A red six link, although at the time I had no idea what she was. She was feathers and bone, and in her desperation for food had managed to fly up and over the six foot fence around my duck enclosure.
Well, I felt terrible for her and let her stay. Her first egg was a big occasion for me, because when she first arrived she was too weak and skinny to even think of laying. I named her Pumpkin, and that was that, she was here to stay if she wanted. She in turn attracted one of the neighbor's very mean roosters (he went to a new home) and then some hens. All the other hens have either left or died - we had a mystery predator a year back - but Pumpkin stayed.
Now at the end of her life, she's ragged and not laying most days but she's top hen and she's here to stay - she will never be a soup pot hen. I've also ended up with some chicks that the neighbors tossed outside when they were less than a week old, but that's another story.
For the last week or so I've been hearing what sounded uncannily like peeping chicks in the thick part of the woods that borders my house, the edge of which bumps up against the end of the road my neighbors live on. I kept looking over there thinking I was going to see Thistle, my EE hen, and her chick near the edge of the woods. My chickens never go in there, as the underbrush is so thick it could easily hide a predator from view. When I didn't see them, I'd be confused, look around, and spot them in the open part of the yard, sunning or foraging.
So I brushed off the sounds thinking my imagination was getting the better of me. Then today my father walks in and says, "Is it possible two of your chickens are down at the edge of the woods by the road?" Naturally this worried me - I don't like my chickens near the road. "Oh, and they were peeping like chicks." Aha! We only have one outside chick here and it's with Thistle on the deck - I can see it. So, concerned for their welfare, we walk down there and what do I see but two very, very young barred rock pullets hiding out in the thick woods.
So we go on a bit of a chicken chase. They're not really scared of people but they're understandably nervous, so it takes a good while and now I know why they say it's hard to catch a chicken. So it would seem that our wonderful neighbors had bought a pair of barred rock pullets and tossed them out as soon as they were mostly feathered, and, being that they don't feed their birds and probably hadn't introduced them to the flock they have managed to keep, and hadn't locked them up in the coop to establish it as home, the older birds probably drove the young ones off and in a desperate attempt to survive, they moved into the thickest part of the woods, scrounging up bugs and taking shelter from the rain, for at least a week.
Well, now they're snug in a cage with no way to physically come in contact with my current flock, just in case they have something. As soon as they saw food they were on it. Poor babies. I think once they're integrated into the flock I'll sell one. Chicken math over here - I already have two young chicks in the house and 10 silkie eggs incubating, not to mention the 22 duck eggs! My bigger coop is going to explode, and I haven't even finished building it yet!
I first got into chickens by way of my irresponsible neighbors. I had two pet ducks, and naturally those ducks had food. One day, I went out to check on my boys to see a hen sitting in their pen! A red six link, although at the time I had no idea what she was. She was feathers and bone, and in her desperation for food had managed to fly up and over the six foot fence around my duck enclosure. Well, I felt terrible for her and let her stay. Her first egg was a big occasion for me, because when she first arrived she was too weak and skinny to even think of laying. I named her Pumpkin, and that was that, she was here to stay if she wanted. She in turn attracted one of the neighbor's very mean roosters (he went to a new home) and then some hens. All the other hens have either left or died - we had a mystery predator a year back - but Pumpkin stayed.
Now at the end of her life, she's ragged and not laying most days but she's top hen and she's here to stay - she will never be a soup pot hen. I've also ended up with some chicks that the neighbors tossed outside when they were less than a week old, but that's another story.
For the last week or so I've been hearing what sounded uncannily like peeping chicks in the thick part of the woods that borders my house, the edge of which bumps up against the end of the road my neighbors live on. I kept looking over there thinking I was going to see Thistle, my EE hen, and her chick near the edge of the woods. My chickens never go in there, as the underbrush is so thick it could easily hide a predator from view. When I didn't see them, I'd be confused, look around, and spot them in the open part of the yard, sunning or foraging.
So I brushed off the sounds thinking my imagination was getting the better of me. Then today my father walks in and says, "Is it possible two of your chickens are down at the edge of the woods by the road?" Naturally this worried me - I don't like my chickens near the road. "Oh, and they were peeping like chicks." Aha! We only have one outside chick here and it's with Thistle on the deck - I can see it. So, concerned for their welfare, we walk down there and what do I see but two very, very young barred rock pullets hiding out in the thick woods.
So we go on a bit of a chicken chase. They're not really scared of people but they're understandably nervous, so it takes a good while and now I know why they say it's hard to catch a chicken. So it would seem that our wonderful neighbors had bought a pair of barred rock pullets and tossed them out as soon as they were mostly feathered, and, being that they don't feed their birds and probably hadn't introduced them to the flock they have managed to keep, and hadn't locked them up in the coop to establish it as home, the older birds probably drove the young ones off and in a desperate attempt to survive, they moved into the thickest part of the woods, scrounging up bugs and taking shelter from the rain, for at least a week.
Well, now they're snug in a cage with no way to physically come in contact with my current flock, just in case they have something. As soon as they saw food they were on it. Poor babies. I think once they're integrated into the flock I'll sell one. Chicken math over here - I already have two young chicks in the house and 10 silkie eggs incubating, not to mention the 22 duck eggs! My bigger coop is going to explode, and I haven't even finished building it yet!
