Help Required

[Poxyting]

Hi Everyone,

We have recently purchased a cottage and inherited 6 chickens. We don't know whether they are male or female, also I'm concerned that they haven't been looked after properly. There coop which they go in at night time is small or seems it to me, we are getting one egg a day ( we've only owned the house 2 days) so I assume that we have one female.

I don't know how to attach photos for everyone to see.

Any advice or help would be great.

Thanks

Engin and Jane

 

[valeriebutterley]

Hello and welcome,
if no one has crowed in two days, they are girls! The boys cannot help but tell you.
If there are six of them they do need a fair bit of space, they can be happily shut in at night with limited space, but they do need to be able to stretch and scratch about during the days.
Anyway, all the best with your girls, as everyone on the forum will tell you, chickens are lovely.

 

[Marigold]

Hi Poxyting and welcome to the wonderful world of chickens!
At the bottom of each page on this site there's a link to click to get to the main Poultrykeeper website, which has lots of helpful articles for people who are just starting out with chickens. Have a good read, and then come back with any questions (you will have lots I expect!)

 

[Marigold]

PS I forgot to ask if the previous owners left you any food?
They will need Layers Pellets as their main diet, even if they find other stuff in the garden, as they need the calcium and extras in a balanced feed if they are going to be healthy and lay. Also clean water daily is a must, of course.
Did they say how old the chickens are? If they're more than 3-4 years they won't be very regular layers.

 

[Poxyting]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not a 100% on how old they are but I would assume there a couple of years old. I have purchased layers pellets and mixed corn for them. I give them fresh water everyday. I'm going to start to build them a new coop tomorrow as the current one is in awful condition. Will I need to get them used to the new coop ? Also if I want to introduce 6 new hens into the family how should I go about it when that time comes ?

 

[Poxyting]

Hi Poxyting and welcome to the wonderful world of chickens!
At the bottom of each page on this site there's a link to click to get to the main Poultrykeeper website, which has lots of helpful articles for people who are just starting out with chickens. Have a good read, and then come back with any questions (you will have lots I expect!)

Hi Marigold,

I'm going to buy some auboise bedding for them, can this be used on the floor of the coup as well as the laying box ? Also should I feed them layers pellets as a main course And then mixed corn as a treat ? Or the other way round

 

[Marigold]

Layers pellets are their main food and actually they don't need anything else except greenstuff such as cabbage, plus any wild greens they find or short grass. Long grass isn't good as they sometimes take in long strands which block their crops. (The crop is like a stomach bag about halfway down between the head and chest area, and when a hen has had a good meal it fills up and you can see and feel a bulge.) mixed corn is OK in very small quantities, as you say it's a treat, useful to get them to come to you to be hand fed and tame, and gives them extra warmth before bedtime in winter, but it's fattening if overdone - not more than a small sprinkle per hen per day. Avoid human food treats, except some fruit eg they will go mad for grapes, Apple or pear cores, or off cuts of your own cabbage greens or salad veg etc. Cooked human food contains harmful fat, salt and sugar, they love it but it's bad for them.
Aubiose is excellent on the coop floor and in the nestboxes. Are they in an enclosed run, and if so, how big is it? They need a minimum of 2 sq. metres of run floor space per bird if in there for very long each day, so a freestanding coop is better than one with a small run attached.
Several threads on here about building coops or adapting sheds etc, do take time to plan carefully and ask advice about design from some of the experienced coop builders on here. You might also consider the advantages of buying a plastic coop ready made, they're excellent in many ways, hold their value well, and much less prone to the dreaded red mite than wooden ones. Have a look at Green Frog coops, fof 6 hens you would need a Medium Chicken Lodge. The sizes and design might help you to plan your own coop, even if you didn't buy one., I got mine from here, customer service was excellent and delivery very fast http://rarebreedpoultry.webs.com/greenfrogcoops.htm but there is a Green Frog main website as well. They say a max. of 5 larger hens or 9 bantams but I've had 6 normal hybrid-sized hens in mine quite comfortably.
I cannot believe how the previous owners could have just left you with 6 hens, no food, and no information! At least they've now struck lucky with you two.

 

[rick]

Hi Poxyting,
6 more? Remember, if you ever feel the desire to use an incubator then you should book yourself into a dechux clinic asap
A good sized, secure run (preferably with a roof) is a wonderful and permanent thing.
Sounds like your hens have had a rough time recently but they usually very good at recovering when they are cared for. There is a pinned thread in the 'photos of chickens' section that describes the process. It's a bit fiddly but does work. Mostly it is image size that causes problems. 800x600 always works. Would love to see your hens.

 

[Poxyting]

Layers pellets are their main food and actually they don't need anything else except greenstuff such as cabbage, plus any wild greens they find or short grass. Long grass isn't good as they sometimes take in long strands which block their crops. (The crop is like a stomach bag about halfway down between the head and chest area, and when a hen has had a good meal it fills up and you can see and feel a bulge.) mixed corn is OK in very small quantities, as you say it's a treat, useful to get them to come to you to be hand fed and tame, and gives them extra warmth before bedtime in winter, but it's fattening if overdone - not more than a small sprinkle per hen per day. Avoid human food treats, except some fruit eg they will go mad for grapes, Apple or pear cores, or off cuts of your own cabbage greens or salad veg etc. Cooked human food contains harmful fat, salt and sugar, they love it but it's bad for them.
Aubiose is excellent on the coop floor and in the nestboxes. Are they in an enclosed run, and if so, how big is it? They need a minimum of 2 sq. metres of run floor space per bird if in there for very long each day, so a freestanding coop is better than one with a small run attached.
Several threads on here about building coops or adapting sheds etc, do take time to plan carefully and ask advice about design from some of the experienced coop builders on here. You might also consider the advantages of buying a plastic coop ready made, they're excellent in many ways, hold their value well, and much less prone to the dreaded red mite than wooden ones. Have a look at Green Frog coops, fof 6 hens you would need a Medium Chicken Lodge. The sizes and design might help you to plan your own coop, even if you didn't buy one., I got mine from here, customer service was excellent and delivery very fast http://rarebreedpoultry.webs.com/greenfrogcoops.htm but there is a Green Frog main website as well. They say a max. of 5 larger hens or 9 bantams but I've had 6 normal hybrid-sized hens in mine quite comfortably.
I cannot believe how the previous owners could have just left you with 6 hens, no food, and no information! At least they've now struck lucky with you two.

Hi Marigold,

They stay in there coop at night and take themselves to bed and in the morning they have the whole garden to run around...37m x 41m in size so a very large space to run in. From this morning on I have worked out I think that we have 3 hens and 3 males...males make the noise.

I have just started building there new home...its 1.8m in length by 1.5m in width. I have read that 3 hens can lay in one box so I was going to make 4 laying spaces in total.

We would like to paint the coop once done...is there a paint that's safe ? The chickens won't go in until it's had a week or so to dry.

 

[dinosaw]

Hi Poxyting.

Cuprinol garden shades is non toxic, dries very quickly and comes in loads of colours, pretty good coverage out of a tin too. If you have 3 lads then you need to get rid of at least two of them or they will run the hens ragged. When you come to integrate you will need to set up a secure separate area for the newbies and keep them in sight of the old chickens for at least a week, preferably 2-3. Firstly this ensures they don't have any sickness they may pass on and secondly because it will let them orientate themselves and the old hens get to see them a little less as intruders.

 

[Poxyting]

Hi Poxyting.

Cuprinol garden shades is non toxic, dries very quickly and comes in loads of colours, pretty good coverage out of a tin too. If you have 3 lads then you need to get rid of at least two of them or they will run the hens ragged. When you come to integrate you will need to set up a secure separate area for the newbies and keep them in sight of the old chickens for at least a week, preferably 2-3. Firstly this ensures they don't have any sickness they may pass on and secondly because it will let them orientate themselves and the old hens get to see them a little less as intruders.

Hi Dinosaw,

When you say get rid of two males...would you just offer them free to who ever ?

Engin

 

[dinosaw]

It's up to you really, you can either kill them and eat them or offer them free on something like preloved or on here. Unfortunately there are loads of excess cockerels about so not many takers for them and some of those who express an interest don't always have the best of motives. The problem with keeping them is you will very quickly end up with baldy and bloodied hens at that ratio of boys to girls. Your other option of course is to put up a separate enclosure for them so they can't get at the hens, if they are coexisting happily enough with each other now they will continue to when separate. Just to be sure, are all 3 of them cock a doodling loudly?

 

[rick]

I think you having 3 cockerels is a bit unlikely unless the previous owner bought 3 just before moving out and they would be killing each other by now. My hens make a lot of noise, can hear them outside the front but I also have one very quiet one. A cockerel you could hear down the road and round the corner!

 

[Marigold]

When you're sure about their sex, I would advise getting rid of the boys by one means or another ASAP. As this flock has been poorly kept its likely they were originally a mixed batch of chicks, either home- hatched or taken on maybe from a classroom project, and the owners had little idea what they were or what their breeding was. People simply don't want free cockerels unless they're suitable for breeding and from a good strain of a known breed. You may have to find out how to cull them yourself, or find another local poultrykeeper who can help you, or if you're softhearted like me, take them to the vet to be PTS. If you mostly want hens as pets and for eggs, there will be fewer problems when you're just starting out if you haven't got any cockerels, taking up space, overmating the hens, and probably fighting or becoming aggressive to humans sooner or later.
If this reduces your flock by 2 or 3, that'll leave more room for some nice young pullets of your own choosing, once you've finished your coop and had time to find out what sort would be most suitable for you. And,in time. If you do want to try hatching any, you can get some hatching eggs and keep one of the resulting cockerels for use with broodies the next year, maybe. When you plan for your new pullets, ask on here for advice about introducing them, but before you go ahead with this, you'll need to be sure that the ones you've got are really healthy and free from parasites etc.

 

[Poxyting]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for all the advice....I'm hoping the pictures you can now see ? And hopefully be able to help me on sex and type and possibly age ? The only one that seems to be laying is the white one with black around the neck so it's safe to say she's a hen....the total black one seems to be bullied by the others as they jump on her back and bite her neck and then another one will jump on that one. Previously there were about 12 chickens here so I assume the old owner took the decent laying ones. I have today started the new coup but this won't be finished for a few days.

Do the laying boxes for the hens need to stick out on the side or can they be intergrated into the structure as long as there is access for the eggs ? Also the laying area will have a step in height for it and be split into sections for privacy.

Thanks Engin

 

[dinosaw]

The black necked girl is a light sussex, the big lad with the black tail and neck is some cross off a light sussex and the similar yellowish white hen probably came off the same crossing. The black hen looks in poor shape and could be anything to be honest, the white lad in the foreground looks something like a immature white sussex going by the comb, the one in the background closest to the shed is probably the same but I can't really see properly, however from what I can see it looks like it may have a nasty case of scaly leg, if you could get a closer pic of its legs will be able to confirm. The jumping on the black hen going on is them treading her (mating with her) and then probably one of the other lads getting jealous and attacking. The reason next boxes normally stick out of the side is for ease of access to the eggs, they do need to be lower than the level of the perch in the house or the chickens will roost in there.

 

[Poxyting]

Hi Dinosaw and everyone,

I have attached the photos of all of the chickens for you to view. The bottom two pictures are of that chicken you mentioned which seems to have a lump on the bottom of his foot so he stands on one sometimes. The chickens seem in poor health to me from neglect.

It upsets me to see any pet treated in this manor especially ones that lay your eggs, I'm not sure wether to get rid of the whole lot and start with my own lot at least that way I know there clean and disease free as such.

Thanks

Engin

 

[rick]

That makes me quite cross Engin! I haven't thought of the possibility that they had took the best and left the problems. I think dinosaw and Marigold will agree that that lump looks like bumblefoot. I hope you can turn it around for at least some of them.

 

[valeriebutterley]

It certainly seems these poor birds have been disgracefully neglected.
I think the birds are suffering from scaly leg, which is very contageous. It is a mite and can be cured with swamping the legs with Vaseline or a proprietary medication, but I think it is a long and arduous cure. I agree also with bumblefoot.
The dark hen does look in a bit of a bad way.
I'm so sorry that you have been landed with these poor birds, if you do decide to get rid of them and want some really worthwhile girls, why not approach the British Hen Welfare Trust and rescue some girls that need love and care whilst they feather up and learn to love you!
At the beginning my hen addiction I rescued two little brown girls, and it was sheer joy to watch them learn to be proper hens for the first time.
The very best of luck to you with them.

 

[dinosaw]

Yes unfortunately it is scaly leg and unsurprisingly it has spread throughout the flock I'm afraid. It is treatable, here is a link on what to do https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/scaly-leg-mite/

You can also get a spray called netted scaly leg remover which you may find easier.

In addition it sounds (and looks) like the lad at the bottom also has bumblefoot. Here is a link on that and what to do about it
https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/bumblefoot/


I really don't know what to advise Engin, if it was me I would probably kill the three lads and try to treat the three girls but that's me. It would certainly be a lot easier to just start from scratch if thats the way you want to go but there is no reason why the hens can't be sorted out with some time and tlc. You will certainly not be able to rehome any of the birds in that condition and I think you would be well within your rights to contact the RSPCA about this, it's absolutely not on someone leaving you with this problem because they were too selfish to deal with the results of their own poor husbandry and didn't have the guts to do the decent thing.