Wild Wyandottes! What should I do?

[Ihavesomechickens]

Hey @Alyssa-Bee, how’s the hunt going?

 

[MGG]

Oh I hope you can keep them! I just read through this thread. They are golden laced Wyandotte pullets. They're not laying age yet, probably almost POL (point of lay). The combs and wattles aren't super red yet, so definitely young birds. My parents said only 4 hens, but we now have 6 hens, 1 guinea hen, 1 bantam rooster, 3 chicks, and a broody with 6 eggs due any day. Lol. I pay for the feed though. Maybe if you offer to pay for the feed (if you don't already) they'll be more keen on the idea. Definitely corral them, it's much easier on the bird and on you. Good luck, can't wait for an update!

 

[Alyssa-Bee]

Hey @Alyssa-Bee, how’s the hunt going?

The Easter egg hunt? If that's what you mean, I looked a tiny bit in some of their bushes but didn't want to scare them away. I found no eggs. But then @MGG posted saying that they are Almost at laying age which would explain no eggs!

Oh I hope you can keep them! I just read through this thread. They are golden laced Wyandotte pullets. They're not laying age yet, probably almost POL (point of lay). The combs and wattles aren't super red yet, so definitely young birds. My parents said only 4 hens, but we now have 6 hens, 1 guinea hen, 1 bantam rooster, 3 chicks, and a broody with 6 eggs due any day. Lol. I pay for the feed though. Maybe if you offer to pay for the feed (if you don't already) they'll be more keen on the idea. Definitely corral them, it's much easier on the bird and on you. Good luck, can't wait
for an update!

Wow! Nice flock! Thank you for the advice!

They are definitely of laying age! But I can’t tell exactly so it might be a possibility that they stopped laying but I’m not too sure about taht.

@ILoveBabySilkies says that they are definitely of laying age already. They are deffinitly bigger than my current 13 week blue laced red wyandottes, so how close to laying are they? Could the paleness of their combs mean that they aren't laying anymore because of old age? I have no idea!

True, but my grandma has caught wild young hens and they never laid eggs for her because they were traumatized. Just a thing to think about. And you obviously wouldn’t use a net with too big of holes.

They don't seem too scared of me right now, so maybe grabbing them once they are asleep will help keep down the stress of being caught? Thank you!

 

[Molly Mojo]

They might be from a nearby flock that fled during a predator attack.

I’ve seen a few posts in predator threads that said they had hens that returned several days to weeks later.

Hopefully they will find a home soon.

They are beautiful birds.

 

[Cinnamon11]

I would try to catch them and put them in the large dog crate before dark, eggs or no eggs considering there are coyotes they could be killed in the night.

 

[Alyssa-Bee]

So... parrents aren't completely convinced. I made eggless cookies and sliced some watermelon. I got my mother to come with me wile giving the wild and pet chickens the melon scraps. I talked to her, and she is now actually considering catching them. Because not everyone is convinced, no catching them tonight (neighbors said they have been hanging around at their house for about a week now, so hopefully they will not randomly go now)
I hope they will be okay until we finally are able to get them! And yes... coyotes!

 

[MGG]

The Easter egg hunt? If that's what you mean, I looked a tiny bit in some of their bushes but didn't want to scare them away. I found no eggs. But then @MGG posted saying that they are Almost at laying age which would explain no eggs!

Wow! Nice flock! Thank you for the advice!


@ILoveBabySilkies says that they are definitely of laying age already. They are deffinitly bigger than my current 13 week blue laced red wyandottes, so how close to laying are they? Could the paleness of their combs mean that they aren't laying anymore because of old age? I have no idea!

They don't seem too scared of me right now, so maybe grabbing them once they are asleep will help keep down the stress of being caught? Thank you!

They look to be 18-19 weeks. Here's my BLRW when she was at 20 weeks. They're definitely in that area. Probably eggs will follow in the next month. They're not feathered out like adults yet.

 

[MGG]

So... parrents aren't completely convinced. I made eggless cookies and sliced some watermelon. I got my mother to come with me wile giving the wild and pet chickens the melon scraps. I talked to her, and she is now actually considering catching them. Because not everyone is convinced, no catching them tonight (neighbors said they have been hanging around at their house for about a week now, so hopefully they will not randomly go now)
I hope they will be okay until we finally are able to get them! And yes... coyotes!

I hope you can catch them tomorrow. Hopefully they don't get eaten. Can you just herd them by yourself? I do it all the time. Get two long sticks or poles, hold them out to the sides as far as you can, and herd them in. Then your arms are twice as long. At least just try to catch them tonight and then if nothing else let them out in the morning. I think they just escaped from someone's flock, they either jumped the fence or are the lucky only survivors of a predator attack.

 

[ILoveBabySilkies]

@MGG seems to be right about their age looking back now, if so then eggs are soon to come.

 

[Alyssa-Bee]

They look to be 18-19 weeks. Here's my BLRW when she was at 20 weeks. They're definitely in that area. Probably eggs will follow in the next month. They're not feathered out like adults yet. View attachment 2239257

Thank you!