I live in the northern states and its cold outside and snowing. There is this chicken in a coop that this person owns near my street. I feel bad for the chicken because I think they eventually kill them, and also I was walking by their house today and the chicken did not sound to good. It was making the noise chickens make, and it sounded like more weak and it sounded like it has a scratchy throat. I think there may be two chickens though. My question is should I rescue them? Even steal them and release them in the wild, or hold on to them until the spring and them let them go? What should I do?

The chicken(s) may last for a while in the wild, but would most likely die. Although it's a tempting possibility, I don't think stealing them would be a great idea. Your best bet may be to talk to the keepers, and try to get the chickens off their hands, then find someone with a better set-up for them if you don't have one or don't want to keep them. A good approach, depending on what your neighbor is like, may be to inquire if you could see the chickens (if you have kids, you could say that they really want to take a look at them). You can then assess the situation more closely, and see if the chickens are suffering. If they are, the owners are probably committing animal abuse, but stating that without being completely sure could make the situation much worse. If you think they are suffering, or want to save them from being eaten, if that's what they're keeping them for, you can say that you are very interested in buying them (once again, having kids helps with this part). They may be happy to sell them. It really depends on the situation though. Some chickens cope with cold much better than others, but all chickens require a dry, non-drafty place to rest if you want to keep them healthy.
If they are suffering, then something should definitely be done, and I applaud you for being concerned about the situation.

Are you kidding? It is against the law to steal chickens from other people. You have absolutely no business doing anything about this. In fact, if you are so concerned about the chicken, talk to the owner about it. Ridiculous. That being said- pass the fried chicken!

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if you really thing the chicken/s are being mistreated you need to call animal control and let them sort it out and decide..... it doesnt sound to me like you have enough information to make that decision though, you dont even know how many are in there. plus you obviously know nothing at all about chickens. pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com

as far as killing them to eat. there is nothing that will be done about that, its perfectly legal.

They would be far worse off in the wild, then they would be cold and have no food. If they are in a coup they probably have hay and stuff. Chickens aren't meant to be indoors and most birds do fine in the cold. If it is really cold (like bellow -10) possibly ask at the SPCA. They should be fine though. Stealing someones pet and 'releasing' it in the cold with no food would be far crueler than what they are doing.

Chickens would last about 30 seconds in the wild.
There is nothing you can personally do unless you are willing to face criminal charges.
All that you can do is call your local humane society and get them to take a look.
Also take pictures/videos and document what you believe to be cruel to the chickens

Hope this helps!
If you have anymore problems email me: tomrocks907@hotmail.com

In the wild they wouldn't last 5 minutes. Call the humane society if you are concerned about their welfare.