Adopting Cindy Lou

Yesterday I adopted a chickie in need. Meet Cindy Lou.

Cindy Lou comes from a flock of a friend of mine. Her sisters were being real bitches to her and as you can see- plucked her! It may have been a stress situation from overcrowding. Either way, she had to get quarantined to save her from all their pecking. Poor girl. I took her in, because that's what crazy chicken people do. Ha!

"Cindy Lou? Is that you?"

The interesting thing about my friend and my flocks are that they are probably, quite literally, related. Even though we bought our chicks separately last year, it was around the same time, from the same place, and unknowingly we both got the exact same breed (Golden Laced Wyandotte). Last fall I adopted four from his flock. So we weren't sure if it was possible that some of his old girls would recognize Cindy Lou. As it turned out, perhaps a coincidence, the very first of my girls to approach Cindy Lou were Sweetie and Brows- formerly of the same original flock. Did they recognize her?? I later recounted what happened to another friend and she said, it was as if they were like: "Cindy Lou? Is that you?" (Which is now why I have named her Cindy Lou, it was just too cute). 

Introducing a new chickens to an existing flock can be stressful for everyone involved. It's usually not the best idea to introduce an individual chicken to an established flock, but it's just going to have to work. As you can see she had quite a rough time with her sisters... plucking all her feathers down her back and all around her poor rump. She even has a partially healed wound that she sustained from all the pecking. My friend pointed out that the area of the wound will probably never regrow feathers. I guess I will forever recognize her by her bald spot.

Why is she purple? It's a little surprising at first, but the reason she is purple is from being treated with a product called Blue Kote. It's a wound treatment for chickens that has a very strong blue dye in it. I have a bottle that I haven't had to use yet, but if there are any incidents where a chicken is bleeding, you want to apply this Blue Kote to the wounded area (as my friend did). It helps treat the wound and turns it blue (or purple) instead of red. Chickens peck at red... so a bloody wound will just keep getting bloodier from their irresistible draw to peck at the red of the blood. Or so I've read. I wonder how this really works with the color red since their faces and crowns are red, yet they don't peck at each others faces? *shrugs*

Cindy Lou spent the first day in an old dog crate, with her own food, water and a couple eggs (for comfort). My girls were immensely curious about her. Every time I looked, they seemed to be hanging out by the area. I supplied lots of treats and hand fed them so that Cindy Lou could know that I am cool. She needs to get to know me too, after all. By sticking my fingers together through the bars of the crate, she was able to eat treats from my hand alongside her new sisters without the threat of being spontaneously pecked. I wasn't expecting her to eat from my hand so soon, so I'm going to take this as a good sign.

By nightfall she was placed into the coop, where she fussed about a little bit before plopping down on the floor to sleep. By morning, my boyfriend helped me out by literally going out just before the crack of dawn to open the chicken enclosure, therefore allowing them to free range as soon as possible. It's hard to tell what's going to happen. When I initially checked on them today, everyone seemed to be doing their regular foraging, but Cindy Lou was off on her own. I approached the coop area with a bag of meal worms. Chickens LOVE meal worms. My girls followed me as they usually do... and I was surprised that Cindy Lou approached to join in. She very likely recognized the bag. My friend buys the exact same meal worms from the farm store.

First day free ranging.

Today is her first day free ranging in my backyard... with all the green grass she could eat. I was glad to see her exploring a little bit, but after the meal worm treat, my girls chased her and pulled on her feathers. She then retreated into the coop (which is good that she knows the coop is her home already) and the last I checked she was tuckered away in a nesting box.

It will probably take a little time for her to be accepted by her new (and some old) sisters. I sure hope they are nicer to her.

We now embark on project: regrowing feathers! Wish us luck!