LEWISTON — State and county officials are investigating whether a Turner man took proper care of the chickens on his property and whether they’re rightfully his.

The Turner resident, Eugene Jordan Jr., 58, insists he’s done nothing wrong and the flap over his chickens is the latest in a string of run-ins with law enforcement officials bent on persecuting him.

The director of the Animal Welfare Program at the Maine Department of Agriculture said her office seized 9 chickens from Jordan’s farm a week ago after executing a search warrant at Jordan’s his Snell Hill Road property. Those chickens are being examined for signs of ill health, including possible disease and malnourishment, said Norma Worley.

“We are waiting on the results” of examinations and tests, she said.

The remaining 100-plus chickens at Jordan’s property have been quarentined. Jordan, who said he bought the chickens earlier in the month for resale, is not allowed to sell any chickens until he hears back from the state, Worley said. Her office was responding to a complaint lodged with her department, she said.

Jordan said Thursday he keeps the chickens in an old motorless school bus. He feeds and waters them every day, he said. He plans to resell them before winter. He had been advertising them on the Internet. He said he bought the chickens from a man who works at chicken farm near Troy. Jordan said he’s been buying chickens from that man for years. The man, whose name Jordan declined to give, delivered the chickens to him in Turner, he said.

“I was just holding them for resale and got caught in the middle of it,” he said. “Maybe they are DeCoster birds. I don’t know. I don’t really care where they come from. I bought ’em at a decent price and I’m trying to make a dollar.”

Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Eric Samson said Thursday three deputies assisted state Agriculture Department officials in executing the search warrant on Sept. 18. Afterward, a representative from DeCoster Egg Farms, also in Turner, came to Jordan’s property to inspect the birds. Authorities are investigating the ownership of the remaining chickens, Samson said.

Worley and Samson said once their investigations are complete, their reports will be turned over to Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office, where any possible criminal prosecution would be pursued.