Can you ID my surprise chick at 6 weeks old from McMurrays hatchery?

[Quimby House]

I am a first time chicken mom. This is my ‘surprise’ chicken. What is it? The feet are grey. Name is Jill.

Quiet but MESSY

All my chickens come to me when I sit with them. 0 like me picking them up. All like to roost on me.

 

[NatJ]

I think it's a Silver Spangled Hamburg cockerel.

(Most of McMurray's free surprise chicks are male, and it looks like yours is no exception.)

 

[Quimby House]

I think it's a Silver Spangled Hamburg cockerel.

(Most of McMurray's free surprise chicks are male, and it looks like yours is no exception.)

Ok. So I do not know my local law on this. And Im a first timer. What do I do?

 

[nuthatched]

Ok. So I do not know my local law on this. And Im a first timer. What do I do?

Look up your county and town codes for roosters/poultry. Are you sure you even are allowed poultry?
Don't allow give him any pet like treatment, pretty much ignore him. If you can't keep him, craigslist is a good place to sell him.

 

[NatJ]

Ok. So I do not know my local law on this. And Im a first timer. What do I do?

If you do not want a rooster, you either find him a new home, or you butcher him and eat chicken soup.

If you would like to have a rooster, you look up the rules for your area, to see if you are allowed to have a rooster or not. Check the city or town, and the county. The rules are probably different depending on how your property is zoned. (General tip: if you have less than 1/4 acre, roosters are probably forbidden. Larger property sizes can go either way.)

 

[Quimby House]

If you do not want a rooster, you either find him a new home, or you butcher him and eat chicken soup.

If you would like to have a rooster, you look up the rules for your area, to see if you are allowed to have a rooster or not. Check the city or town, and the county. The rules are probably different depending on how your property is zoned. (General tip: if you have less than 1/4 acre, roosters are probably forbidden. Larger property sizes can go either way.)

Ok. I found it. I am on 0.6 of an acre. Town of Dover NY.
All it says is that if you have less than one acre you can not have more than 10 small animals. Chickens are included in that.

I have 7 chickens and one Springer Spaniel. So I am good there.


My next question is eggs. Can we still eat the eggs? If there is a rooster in the hen house??
My hens are 2 austrolops 2 black star. 2 red star. All the chicks are only 6 weeks old so no eggs but I’m just trying to figure stuff out.

 

[LizGio]

Ok. So I do not know my local law on this. And Im a first timer. What do I do?

Call township. Mine has a no roo rule but they said they don't care as long as the neighbors don't complain. Bribe your neighbors with eggs

 

[nuthatched]

Ok. I found it. I am on 0.6 of an acre. Town of Dover NY.
All it says is that if you have less than one acre you can not have more than 10 small animals. Chickens are included in that.

I have 7 chickens and one Springer Spaniel. So I am good there.


My next question is eggs. Can we still eat the eggs? If there is a rooster in the hen house??
My hens are 2 austrolops 2 black star. 2 red star. All the chicks are only 6 weeks old so no eggs but I’m just trying to figure stuff out.

Unless you have some religious or ethical reason not to eat fertile eggs, they are perfectly safe. They are just fertile, as in life is possible, embryos won't grow until about 24 hours incubation.

 

[NatJ]

Ok. I found it. I am on 0.6 of an acre. Town of Dover NY.
All it says is that if you have less than one acre you can not have more than 10 small animals. Chickens are included in that.

I have 7 chickens and one Springer Spaniel. So I am good there.

In that case, now you get to choose whether you want a rooster or not.

Sometimes roosters are great (their crow sounds wonderful, they interact with the hens in a charming manner, they protect the hens by driving off certain kinds of small predators, they mate with the hens so there are fertile eggs you can hatch if you want.)

Sometimes roosters are a nuisance or even a serious problem (wake you up by crowing, attack people, mate with the hens so often the hens' backs get bare. And when chicks hatch, half of them are roosters too, so the problem gets worse.)

I cannot predict in advance which way your rooster would turn out.

Since this is your first flock, and you were originally planning to have just hens, I would recommend you rehome (or butcher) this cockerel, and have just hens for your first experience with chickens. I suspect you will enjoy your chickens more that way.
(But that is just a recommendation. Feel free to disregard it, if you decide you do want to keep a rooster.)