Hello

[Hellochuck]

hello, we have had various hens over the years that have lived totally free range , many chose to sleep in the trees rather than in coops or sheds. We have had several fox attacks too, living in the country. We have had very few health issues with our past hens probably because of the space they had. And a whole lot of luck rather than our knowledge. After a long spell hen free , we decided to get a handful of chucks for eggs and pets.
We bought five from a farmer friend of a friend. Our only stipulation was we wanted a variety of colour and wanted POLs.
We picked up five in the evening. Today we see that one has a black small marble sized round lump on the top of both feet. We are wondering if two others are actually cockerels….
Sooo it is our own fault but we want to try and manage this and hope that we can get help from people here to sort health issues and see who is a girl and who is a boy and who we can keep. So big asks from the start , hope that is ok.

 

[JoshB]

Welcome to the forum are you able to post some photos of your chickens?

 

[Hellochuck]

They are being kept in a run for a couple of months ( with coop) then they will have an acre to free range. As you can see they are all very dirty. Last night we brought each one in and washed their legs and coated them with lots of Vaseline. They all have raised scales on places on their legs. Two of them had actual bobbles on them which we loosened in water last night and they came off. That was the what I think is a female white hen and the all brown hen.
The brown hen with black neck and tail has a flat black patch at the top on each of her legs. We soaked all the hens in Epsom salts but the two whose bobbles came off we put antiseptic cream on (there was no blood, just very raised up scales. Then sprayed with purple spray and then Vaseline.
We also put louse powder on their neck, above the tail and bottoms.
This morning Im sure they seemed perkier but that’s maybe just wishful thinking.
I think the bigger white hen is a cockerel? They constantly walk round the outside of the other hens while they eat , clucking away. They eat after wards. They wander about on their own a lot where the others stick together. They are also more flighty.
The other I wasn’t sure about is the one that looks a bit like a cream leg bar. I imagine that some on here will know at a glance.

 

[Hellochuck]

I will get some close ups of their legs the next time they come in to be soaked and resprayed etc.

 

[Icemaiden]

Hi Hellochuck.
Yes, I'd agree that the one with the tuft on its head looks as though it could be a cream legbar hybrid. I don't know about the others.

I examined my pol pullets pretty carefully when I went to buy them, but failed somehow to notice that one had had the end of her toe amputated. I guess that's why the breeder was selling her off...

It sounds as though your new flock have escaped from a bad environment. I Hooe you didn't pay too much for them? It doesn't sound as though they'd been well cared for