Any guesses what kind of chicken breed I've got here?

[nickylou665]

Hello!

The stinker in the photos below is Ditzy the teenage chick. I took him in from a young lady who was raising him as a single chick, but she didn't have any information on this chicken other than it's a chicken who was "about a week old" at the time, which would place them at about five-ish weeks right now if she was correct.

Same girl also told me the breed was "Oh I dunno, normal white chicken, whatever you'd get" and "it HAS to be a girl, I took it because it's the sweetest and friendliest." So. Since Murphy's Law bolted out of bed and tied their running shoes the moment that theory was uttered into the world, Ditzy is proving themselves to probably be a rooster. Therefore I will say the age is approximate.

So going off of the "it's the normal white chicken," any guesses about breed? Ditzy's all white, looks like a single comb is coming in and full of energy. Food boob almost always present and HUGE. Seems to be on track to match the size and weight of my layer barnyard mix teenager chicks who are only a week-ish older than Ditzy, and the stinker loves to run, so I would suppose that means Ditzy is probably not a meat bird - however that's just an uneducated guess. I'm assuming leghorn, but I really don't know my chicken breeds that well, so thought I would cast the net out and see what the group thought.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Ditzy is a Cornish cross cockerel. Make sure he is active and don’t give him the option to sit by the feeder and just eat. Make sure he gets lots of time to forage and scratch around.

 

[DobieLover]

Cornish Rock Cross. A meat bird.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Cornish cross I would limit his chick feed access to maybe a palm full at the end of the day and have him look for food around the yard in a secure movable pen the rest of the time. He will literally sit and eat himself to death if he has full access to feed. And of course clean water is always good.

 

[nickylou665]

Ditzy is a Cornish cross cockerel. Make sure he is active and don’t give him the option to sit by the feeder and just eat. Make sure he gets lots of time to forage and scratch around.

Gotcha! I was worried he might be a meat bird given his constant food boobery, but was trying to be hopeful since I got him from a person who got HIM from a person who was hoping to raise egg layers. He's definitely active and a runner right now, so I was hoping that pointed towards "not a meat bird", but I'll work on continuing to encourage activity.

 

[nickylou665]

Cornish cross I would limit his chick feed access to maybe a palm full at the end of the day and have him look for food around the yard in a secure movable pen the rest of the time. He will literally sit and eat himself to death if he has full access to feed. And of course clean water is always good.

Bummer, I was crossing my fingers he was a leghorn, but seems like my hopes against his being a meat bird might just be hopes! I feel very sorry for the young lady's mother if they got all meat birds, they're raising chicks to be egg layers from what she said. Then again, her answers were all very vague.

Right now all my chickens free range and he's normally one who I find on the outside of their run every darn day despite plugging every escape route I find of his . He's very buddy buddy with two of the barnyard mix teenagers I have, and I would hate to separate them from the group. I'll monitor his access to feed in the meantime, and correct the situation if it turns out he's getting too much.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I had a Cornish cross pullet I saved from slaughter. I never limited her feed. She was raised with 2 Leghorn pullets and an Andalusian pullet. She learned to be a normal chicken despite being larger than them. It is definitely helpful to raise Cornish cross with other chicken breeds so they can see how a non Cornish cross chicken acts.
Put up some low perches or low 2’x4’s large side up to encourage him to perch and to build up his wing muscles. Once your confident in his perching abilities gradually increase the height of the perches.
Good luck!

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Food boob almost always present and HUGE.
View attachment 1812797 View attachment 1812798

LMAO!!! FOOD BOOB!!!!! hehehehe

yea, I agree with @Brahma Chicken5000

 

[nickylou665]

I had a Cornish cross pullet I saved from slaughter. I never limited her feed. She was raised with 2 Leghorn pullets and an Andalusian pullet. She learned to be a normal chicken despite being larger than them. It is definitely helpful to raise Cornish cross with other chicken breeds so they can see how a non Cornish cross chicken acts.
Put up some low perches or low 2’x4’s large side up to encourage him to perch and to build up his wing muscles. Once your confident in his perching abilities gradually increase the height of the perches.
Good luck!

Thank you for the optimistic vote of confidence! If he's a cornish cross, he's the first meat bird I've accidentally raised so I am going to have to do a bit of research. His latest escape tactic is to fly-hop from chair seat, to chair back, to the top of the rabbit hutch in their run and use that as an airport strip to get over the fence. I was trying to discourage that since he's giving the rest of the flock ideas, but maybe I need to rethink my stance!

He definitely can't balance, thanks for the different height roost suggestions. When he tries to plant for naptime on my leg he slowly falls over (and off)!

Being a chick, he's not high in the pecking order right now, which upon reflection is probably why he's not able to plant by the food bowl and is more mobile. Has to outrun the First Ladies.

 

[nickylou665]

LMAO!!! FOOD BOOB!!!!! hehehehe

yea, I agree with @brah

I've witnessed him using it as a pillow! Which upon reflection should have clued me in that maybe he was a cross, I've never seen a chicken do that... but I've only had chickens for a couple of years and consider myself a learner still and forever.

Ah well, that's part of why I posted to ask what he might be. I needed some hive mind feedback!