Stray Rooster

[KimbosKluckers]

This guy showed up at my gate today, when I approached he walked off and a few hours later he is back and closer to my hen’s run. I threw him some scratch. What kind is he? So pretty. What would you all do? Let him in? Afraid he may hurt the girls though he talked to them through the fence which “seemed” non aggressive. He won’t last long outside here. I posted on the only local app up here.

 

[Crazy Chicken Keeper]

WOW that is a lovely rooster, I had a Blue Araucana once who looked like him...but this guy has an upright comb so probably not that. He looks half orpington to me...maybe a cross? It could be a blue langshan. If you aren't living in town I'd keep him especially since he doesn't seem to have scaly leg mite

 

[sourland]

Perhaps an Andalusian or Leghorn.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

The main issue I see is disease. He’s out in the wild, more or less, and came from who knows where so could carry any number of things that would be dangerous to your chickens. If you don’t need a rooster he is probably just fine being left alone. If you do decide to keep him, try to quarantine him for a few weeks to make sure he’s healthy before doing a slow introduction.

 

[KimbosKluckers]

WOW that is a lovely rooster, I had a Blue Araucana once who looked like him...but this guy has an upright comb so probably not that. He looks half orpington to me...maybe a cross? It could be a blue langshan. If you aren't living in town I'd keep him especially since he doesn't seem to have scaly leg mite

He does look healthy. Very rural area but there are ccr’s from the 80’s which said no roosters but every single place here has them. Lol except me.

Perhaps an Andalusian or Leghorn.

Thank you, he’s pretty.

The main issue I see is disease. He’s out in the wild, more or less, and came from who knows where so could carry any number of things that would be dangerous to your chickens. If you don’t need a rooster he is probably just fine being left alone. If you do decide to keep him, try to quarantine him for a few weeks to make sure he’s healthy before doing a slow introduction.

That’s what worried me, he looks healthy but what’s lurking? I just worry he’s lost or dumped I do not want to endanger my girls though. Thanks. I hate these kinds of decisions!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

If nobody else claims him, I'd keep him. He's a pretty rooster. Quarantine him for two weeks to 30 days first and check him for mites. You should go around asking all your neighbors if they lost him. He shouldn't hurt your girls, but if he's carrying disease, that'd be a problem. He looks fairly young. I'd say he's about six to seven months old. Someone might have abandoned him when he started crowing too much and figured you'd take him because you have chickens. (This has happened to me more than once. Thankfully the first time the people asked.)

As far as breed, my first thought is Blue Andalusian, though, I feel like he should be darker. His shoulders are pretty dark, so maybe he still is?

 

[KimbosKluckers]

If nobody else claims him, I'd keep him. He's a pretty rooster. Quarantine him for two weeks to 30 days first and check him for mites. You should go around asking all your neighbors if they lost him. He shouldn't hurt your girls, but if he's carrying disease, that'd be a problem. He looks fairly young. I'd say he's about six to seven months old. Someone might have abandoned him when he started crowing too much and figured you'd take him because you have chickens. (This has happened to me more than once. Thankfully the first time the people asked.)

As far as breed, my first thought is Blue Andalusian, though, I feel like he should be darker. His shoulders are pretty dark, so maybe he still is?

Thanks for that information. The only way I’d be able to quarantine him is to let him in my property out of the girl’s area to roam, no coop etc. he will not let me approach yet, maybe I’ll gain his trust. As far as asking neighbors, most people are completely fenced in so you cannot get to their home, like me. I’d hope no one abandoned him but there are cruel people Maybe he will go home to roost tonight and if he’s back tomorrow I’ll have to make a decision. He’s gorgeous though.

 

[KimbosKluckers]

I let him in the fence to the main property and then he jumped onto the interior fence, 5’ welded wire. He was trying to roost there but it’s unstable. So he’s somewhere for the night, did not want pets.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Thanks for that information. The only way I’d be able to quarantine him is to let him in my property out of the girl’s area to roam, no coop etc. he will not let me approach yet, maybe I’ll gain his trust. As far as asking neighbors, most people are completely fenced in so you cannot get to their home, like me. I’d hope no one abandoned him but there are cruel people Maybe he will go home to roost tonight and if he’s back tomorrow I’ll have to make a decision. He’s gorgeous though.

If you have predators, he can't be left outside. He might roost near your hens though, and you might be able to catch him that way. Do you have a dog cage that you could set up in a garage or basement? That could be a place to keep him until his quarantine is over.

Personally (this is bad advice I'm giving here and can be very dangerous), if this was me, I'd check him over for mites and if he passed the test, I'd throw him right in with my birds. I might quarantine him for a few days, but in a time that's too soon I'd throw him in with them. Yes, this is terrible advice and because you're not me, I don't think that you should do that at all. The only reason why I'd be so trusting that he doesn't have anything because of the situation. He's young and abandoned. His previous owner most likely got him in the Spring, didn't know too much about chickens and this probably was their first batch, and when it was too obvious that he was a rooster, they made the (bad) decision to get rid of him. I've seen this plenty of times before, and the person's inexperience is the only thing that guarantees no disease. They get their chicks at TSC and don't add any from anywhere else, thus unknowingly protecting their flock against disease.
Again, I've just given you terrible advice. I've rescued several roosters who were abandoned, as well as a flock of hens who were all of a similar case. I had no issues with these rescues, which many did land immediately in with my flock due to me trusting the inexperience of the person who abandoned them, except for one case. (And one is all it takes.)
There were three roosters wandering around my property, trying to get to the hens, and I was able to catch two of them. I did quarantine these roosters, but unfortunately, I didn't recognize something I was seeing on one of the roosters as something to be worried about, so I threw them in with my girls once quarantine was over, thus introducing MG to my flock. With a whole flock infected, and still not knowing what MG even was, I dealt with it in my flock until I decided to stop chickens for a season and later learned about it here on BYC. I had no clue, risked my flock, and they lived with the consequences of that action. Since hand, I have played with that risk yet again, but then again, it's a risk and shouldn't be taken.

 

[KimbosKluckers]

If you have predators, he can't be left outside. He might roost near your hens though, and you might be able to catch him that way. Do you have a dog cage that you could set up in a garage or basement? That could be a place to keep him until his quarantine is over.

Personally (this is bad advice I'm giving here and can be very dangerous), if this was me, I'd check him over for mites and if he passed the test, I'd throw him right in with my birds. I might quarantine him for a few days, but in a time that's too soon I'd throw him in with them. Yes, this is terrible advice and because you're not me, I don't think that you should do that at all. The only reason why I'd be so trusting that he doesn't have anything because of the situation. He's young and abandoned. His previous owner most likely got him in the Spring, didn't know too much about chickens and this probably was their first batch, and when it was too obvious that he was a rooster, they made the (bad) decision to get rid of him. I've seen this plenty of times before, and the person's inexperience is the only thing that guarantees no disease. They get their chicks at TSC and don't add any from anywhere else, thus unknowingly protecting their flock against disease.
Again, I've just given you terrible advice. I've rescued several roosters who were abandoned, as well as a flock of hens who were all of a similar case. I had no issues with these rescues, which many did land immediately in with my flock due to me trusting the inexperience of the person who abandoned them, except for one case. (And one is all it takes.)
There were three roosters wandering around my property, trying to get to the hens, and I was able to catch two of them. I did quarantine these roosters, but unfortunately, I didn't recognize something I was seeing on one of the roosters as something to be worried about, so I threw them in with my girls once quarantine was over, thus introducing MG to my flock. With a whole flock infected, and still not knowing what MG even was, I dealt with it in my flock until I decided to stop chickens for a season and later learned about it here on BYC. I had no clue, risked my flock, and they lived with the consequences of that action. Since hand, I have played with that risk yet again, but then again, it's a risk and shouldn't be taken.

Wow. Thanks for that. I also am new, my girls are just under 2. Got all of them at C-A-L ranch and have no others. Started with 6, but put one gal down last week due to salpingitis. She was out. I don’t want to take the risk. He was trying to roost by them. I have a very small dog kennel and a shed to quarantine but hat seems cruel? We have all the predators so I hope he’s safe tonight at least. I can’t believe people just abandon them like that.