Surprise Chicken

[EggarAllenPoe]

This chicken appeared in a neighbor's yard today, and they brought it to us thinking it might belong to our small backyard flock of 6. The neighborhood it was found in is an HOA, and we've not seen any evidence of secret chickens there, and are not aware of any other flocks nearby in our neighborhood that he may have escaped from. Its a young chicken, almost exactly the same size as our 8-week old ones, and appears to be a barred rock? My question is - can anyone tell yet if this is a male? Wondering if someone figured he was a rooster and couldn't keep him, so drove him here and dropped him off because they've seen we have chickens. Don't know where else he may have come from!

 

[CascadiaRiver]

It's a boy! And yes unfortunately it's likely he was dumped it happens a lot

 

[EggarAllenPoe]

It's a boy! And yes unfortunately it's likely he was dumped it happens a lot

How can you tell??

 

[Chicalina]

can you post more photos of the back and tail

 

[Pigeony]

How can you tell??

He's double-barred, he has two copies of the barring gene so it makes his barring have more white than black. This is a male-only trait, barring is carried on the sex chromosomes and females cannot have double barring, only single. Your second face picture shows the double barring well, lots of white in his feathers.

 

[Kurczaklover]

This chicken appeared in a neighbor's yard today, and they brought it to us thinking it might belong to our small backyard flock of 6. The neighborhood it was found in is an HOA, and we've not seen any evidence of secret chickens there, and are not aware of any other flocks nearby in our neighborhood that he may have escaped from. Its a young chicken, almost exactly the same size as our 8-week old ones, and appears to be a barred rock? My question is - can anyone tell yet if this is a male? Wondering if someone figured he was a rooster and couldn't keep him, so drove him here and dropped him off because they've seen we have chickens. Don't know where else he may have come from!View attachment 4167186View attachment 4167187

It does look like a young male, but the tail will usually tell. Our first roo was a barred rock, and he was so sweet and amazing with the ladies!

 

[EggarAllenPoe]

 

[EggarAllenPoe]

He's double-barred, he has two copies of the barring gene so it makes his barring have more white than black. This is a male-only trait, barring is carried on the sex chromosomes and females cannot have double barring, only single. Your second face picture shows the double barring well, lots of white in his feathers.

I read this, but still had trouble identifying it visually, since he looks pretty dark to me - we've never had barred rocks for me to compare to. Thanks!

 

[Airyaman]

He's double-barred, he has two copies of the barring gene so it makes his barring have more white than black. This is a male-only trait, barring is carried on the sex chromosomes and females cannot have double barring, only single. Your second face picture shows the double barring well, lots of white in his feathers.

That and the gigantic red comb and wattles.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

That and the gigantic red comb and wattles

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