- Aug 3, 2011
- 4
- 0
- 7
Hello all! Though I've been a fan of the forum for the past few weeks as my wife and I have been considering raising chickens, I've been prompted to write my first post as a chicken situation has almost literally landed on my doorstep. Four days ago, my wife and I were out trimming the hedges next to our street sign, and in the field across the street my wife noticed four chickens roaming around. She got my attention, and since two of our four closest neighbors raise chickens, we thought that possibly some of theirs had escaped. Three of the four we identified as roosters, and the last one we weren't sure about. After speaking to the lady next door, she said she saw some strangers walking up the end of our street with empty crates earlier. Apparently she didn't think much of it until we mentioned the chickens to her. Anyway, we gathered up the chickens in a dog crate and let them spend the night in it outside, and the next day I built them a temporary shelter in the back. Called the local animal shelter the next morning and sure enough they would be euthanized immediately. Although I don't necessarily want to keep all of them, I do want to find at least three of them a happy home. However, I still need to identify the last one's gender before I decide to do anything about him/her. He/she definitely has some semi-aggressive characteristics, but other than that I've seen none of the usual signs with which to tell the difference, and I reckon that it's at least partially my ignorance. And, for my own curiosity, I would like to know the breed as well as any breed-related behavioral information that anyone has to offer. Anyone's help is much appreciated!
To the pictures:
This fella is the one that we're leaning toward keeping. Very mellow and easy to handle. Also the only one we've caught crowing. Definitely is the alpha of the bunch.
This guy is definitely the least evasive and easiest to handle. Probably the least aggressive towards the others of the four. The black on his neck is exaggerated because we put some stuff to keep them from peckin'.
Here's the most evasive of the three, he always corners behind the other three so I've only picked him up once. Definitely the biggest.
Then there's this one. At first we thought it was a rooster just because it was abandoned but our next-door neighbor came over and saw them and said he thought it could be a hen but that he wasn't positive. He/she is definitely different from the bunch, but not different enough behaviorally or physically to positively identify as a hen. The gender on this one is my most urgent question.
Thanks again for any help anyone can provide!
To the pictures:
This fella is the one that we're leaning toward keeping. Very mellow and easy to handle. Also the only one we've caught crowing. Definitely is the alpha of the bunch.
This guy is definitely the least evasive and easiest to handle. Probably the least aggressive towards the others of the four. The black on his neck is exaggerated because we put some stuff to keep them from peckin'.
Here's the most evasive of the three, he always corners behind the other three so I've only picked him up once. Definitely the biggest.
Then there's this one. At first we thought it was a rooster just because it was abandoned but our next-door neighbor came over and saw them and said he thought it could be a hen but that he wasn't positive. He/she is definitely different from the bunch, but not different enough behaviorally or physically to positively identify as a hen. The gender on this one is my most urgent question.
Thanks again for any help anyone can provide!
Last edited:
