Adopted Chicken

[bretharness]

A few weeks ago my nieghbor brought home 5 Roosters of various breeds 1RI Red 2 I dont knows and 2 Manaren? all good looking birds except the one who adopted us he seems to be a cripple and the other 4 birds picked on him until most of his tail plummage was gone.
He now resides on our front porch and is very friendly, we protect him from the other birds and he has not gone back home for 3 weeks now.
I bought him a bag of scratch feed and occassionally I give him crickets (endless supply in old wellhouse) and worms.
he is lonely and follows me and the wife around like a puppy all over the small farm we live on. I am thinking of restoring the old chicken coop on the farm and getting him a couple of hens to live with.
My question is does it matter what breed of hens I get for companions or do I need to get him the same breed as he is?
I have grown fond of this bird and we have named him Henry and would like to make his life a little happier.

 

[BantamoftheOpera]

Hi and

!

You do not need to get hens of the same breed. Also Scratch feed isn't nutritionally sound for chickens. For future reference this post would be more likely to be seen if you had posted under the breed section of this website. New Member Introductions is generally just for basic information about yourself.

Good Luck

 

[bretharness]

Thanks will be doing a lot of research on feed for Henry and just got into this when we decided to help him out so on a learning curve here

 

[Judy]

Well, good luck, then. This is THE website for info on chicken care. Have fun!

 

[sred98]

Good for you for taking him in! Sounds like he found a great new home. I wonder why your neighbor got so many roosters?? I bet the ones you posted as Manaren are Marans. Do you know what kind Henry is? If you describe him, we might can help you figure it out. Also, there is a website called feathersite.com that we all use to ID unknown breeds. Your local feedstore will probably have chicks this spring, or you can try Craigslist for some hens for him.

Scratch is a good treat, but he needs to eat actual chicken food. Kind of like giving a dog treats rather than dogfood. You should be able to get this wherever you get scratch. They should be able to tell you. Just be sure they know he's a rooster and don't get egglayer ration. He needs adult chicken food.

Also, with winter coming, you need to get him a warm place to sleep. If he has a comb that sticks straight up (like you would think a rooster would) then it can get frostbite, if you are in a cold area. If it is a flatter, bumpier comb then they usually do ok.

I'm curious what kind he is. If you post a pic in the "what breed is this" section, we can help you figure it out.

Good luck with your roo!

Shelly

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Greetings from Tucson and

Does your neighbor know that Henry has decided to live with you? If they are O.K. with that, I'd definitely get Henry a few hens of his own. The others have given good advice, especially about the food and shelter. Look in the Coops section of the forum and even the Predator and Pests section to get an idea of what you have to defend against and what you should build to make them safe. It seems like the world is teaming with critters that think chicken tastes good. Good luck and good for your for doing this, he sounds like a lovely rooster.