Thanks so much! I inherited 7 of these during the Colorado mountain flooding in September when the Sheriff's Deputy who had them had to evacuate for access to his job. He was going to slaughter them and his neighbor intervened and asked at the every-other-day community meeting if anyone could take them. I had just taken over my neighbor's 22-bird coop while THEY evacuated for work and school. It's a large coop and the birds free range in the daytime, so tho' we had no internet, the highways were out in both directions barring access to book acquisition, no phones, and no power, I said yes. Now that I've read about introducing birds to an established coop, I did everything I possibly could have WRONG.
They showed up butt pecked, but the delivery person said "Oh, they're molting."
Really.
I did see the living conditions and they had a nice built-for-them coop with a HUGE free range but fenced area, so why they were butt picked, I just don't know. I'm surmising it was such chaos up here for the first week that the birds were left inside their coop nonstop and that's when the pecking happened but it's just me surmising.
The resident flock were horrible to them for a while, the free ranging in the daytime is the only thing that saved them. I saw the pecking order and made sure they had access to food and water plus they were doing the free range eating.
They've now been mostly accepted, but the tails...will they ever come back?
Now that I've ordered books and read about them, I've checked them carefully for parasites and see none.
I took over the 22-bird coop when it was in dastardly condition (eye-watering ammonia) and got it cleaned up the same day the people left. I picked poop and soiled straw every day since I thought they might've been overcrowded at now 29 birds in an 8x10 converted tuffshed with a 10x10 well roofed/fenced outer run to which they had 24 hour access as there was no door to close.
The 5 who are left seem to have finally integrated but their butts are still bare. (Fox got one, one drowned in the pond when she stepped on the thin ice)
Since the Sheriff gave me the chickens to keep (he said "the boy's chicken experiment is now over."), I'll be launching my own coop here within a week or so (more stress for these poor chickens--yet another move) and maybe feather growth will start.
I did find a "chicken dvm" in Boulder, so maybe a visit if they don't start growing feathers.
They showed up butt pecked, but the delivery person said "Oh, they're molting."
Really.
I did see the living conditions and they had a nice built-for-them coop with a HUGE free range but fenced area, so why they were butt picked, I just don't know. I'm surmising it was such chaos up here for the first week that the birds were left inside their coop nonstop and that's when the pecking happened but it's just me surmising.
The resident flock were horrible to them for a while, the free ranging in the daytime is the only thing that saved them. I saw the pecking order and made sure they had access to food and water plus they were doing the free range eating.
They've now been mostly accepted, but the tails...will they ever come back?
Now that I've ordered books and read about them, I've checked them carefully for parasites and see none.
I took over the 22-bird coop when it was in dastardly condition (eye-watering ammonia) and got it cleaned up the same day the people left. I picked poop and soiled straw every day since I thought they might've been overcrowded at now 29 birds in an 8x10 converted tuffshed with a 10x10 well roofed/fenced outer run to which they had 24 hour access as there was no door to close.
The 5 who are left seem to have finally integrated but their butts are still bare. (Fox got one, one drowned in the pond when she stepped on the thin ice)
Since the Sheriff gave me the chickens to keep (he said "the boy's chicken experiment is now over."), I'll be launching my own coop here within a week or so (more stress for these poor chickens--yet another move) and maybe feather growth will start.
I did find a "chicken dvm" in Boulder, so maybe a visit if they don't start growing feathers.
they are flighty and don't like to be held as often as my RIR . If you need any more information please let me know!
