This morning I found a small chicken scratching around in my front garden. I've been to all the other places in my neighbourhood with chickens that I know of, and she doesn't belong to any of them. I've put up a sign and left my details with the local animal shelter but if nobody claims her I'm quite happy to look after her. However, I already have an established flock of 4 fully-grown hens (2 ISA Brown, 2 White Leghorn) and I'm not confident they'll accept the tiny newcomer (not sure if she's a bantam or just very young). At this stage I'm just letting the stray explore the yard on her own but if anyone has any advice about what to do it would be very much appreciated.
I would suggest keeping her away from your flock, since you do not know if she has any illnesses / diseases that could be transmitted. After quarantine, you can try to integrate her. These links may help to give you some ideas for a strategy that suits your set-up. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/reintegrating-a-recovered-hen-to-a-small-flock https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1015820/reintegration-by-supervised-visits#post_15742910 https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method
Some good stuff there - thanks for that! The hen in question is a Black-Tailed Buff Japanese Bantam, which is a very small, placid breed, so integration may be difficult even though my girls are very sweet and don't really pick on each other at all. If I have to keep the newbie, I'm thinking of getting her a companion of the same breed and putting them in a separate part of the yard. I'll get her health checked out soon although she appears to be in pretty good nick - she even laid us an egg this afternoon!
First off... CTKen has given you some great links to help you out with the stray. She sounds lovely, if you keep her, you'll have a good excuse to get more chickens. Hope she's well and you enjoy her!
