We've been Rooster Dumped...

[Mykee]

My favorite birds were always the mutts,so as long as the roosters get along that would be fine. From his spurs, he does look young, but his feathering is mature.

 

[Flora Vale Fowl]

My favorite birds were always the mutts,so as long as the roosters get along that would be fine. From his spurs, he does look young, but his feathering is mature.

We are really leaning towards keeping him, but just have to work out the process. He would certainly have to stay isolated for a while, until our girls are old enough, and then, I am guessing we would need more hens, to make sure both boys get along well, and don't over breed them.

Gee...chicken math happens, even when you don't contribute to it yourself. Sadly, keeping him, seems like encourage the jerks that dumped him and I hope I don't get more. Nobody ever seems to dump nice healthy Buff Orphingtons, say about 19 weeks old?

Also, Mykee. Love your signature line. We are professional fantasy artists, and I write, speak, etc, in the field of the Mythic Arts. Deep Tolkien fans, and the "Old Walking Song" is a family favorite. We sing it upon setting out on every road trip, and upon returning home. Considering that we work arts fests for our living, this means a LOT!

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: A pullet is a young hen. A cockerel is a young rooster. Both under one year. Though hens can crow and grow spurs too.

He's got very handsome red coloration. You're right, he's only young, in fact I'm sure he is only a cockerel still, under a year old. The spurs are one thing; genetics can play a huge part in the speed of growth or lack thereof. Some roosters will never grow full spurs. It's his tail that shows how young he is. He's still got his baby tail under the arched mature feathers. He should grow a bigger set of straight tail feathers under the fancy cockbird feathering.

While he is handsome and all, I personally would not breed him as those turned-inward spurs will be inherited in plenty of his offspring and the incorrect angle of them will slice open the flanks of your hens, unless he's some kind of wiz at managing the bodgy things. I've bred roosters with spurs like that before...

Also, if you get a good look at the front of his shins, I think you will possibly see incorrect leg scaling. This is commonly linked with the badly angled spurs, and while he may walk and so might some or all of his offspring, there's a chance that his chicks or their chicks will be structurally misaligned in such a way as to have difficulty walking, with the legs spraddling either outwards or inwards. I didn't learn about leg scaling till it was something I had to weed out of my flock. People are not forthcoming with this information, not the breeders nor the authors.

HOWEVER: I may be wrong about the leg scaling, and he may manage his spurs, or you may manage them for him, (trimming/blunting the tips won't hurt him) and you may manage his genetics, and it may all go great for you. My flock is made of mainly mutts and mongrels, whose ancestors have all had their share of faults; I too am a great fan of the non-purebred; I'm working on developing my own breed and in the course of chicken keeping and breeding you will learn to manage the genes you're working together, which I personally find a most engrossing hobby. So, if you choose to keep him, all the best and please keep us updated.

 

[Flora Vale Fowl]

So awesome. Thanks. I get that pullet/cockeral bit mistake all the time. Won't now, hopefully. Great stuff. Off to check his legs for scales now!

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Don't mind me, I can't even guarantee I've got the right name for age info, I never cared much for those semantics... I call them roosters and hens at any age.

The scales are supposed to go straight down his shin onto the middle toe. If they come from either side of the leg to wrap around onto his middle toe or another toe, that's a bad thing.

 

[Flora Vale Fowl]

Fascinating stuff to learn. Thanks so much. Here is a pic of his scales, and I have adjusted contrast, etc, for clarity. His scales are very wonky. We visually compared them to our other flock, who have nice straight scales. Great tip, we wouldn't have known to look at this, so thank you very much.

I love this learning curve. Your sig file is personally very similar to us. Jumping on the chicken wagon was the last piece in our small homestead.

 

[chooks4life]

While I can't see if it goes straight down onto his middle toe or not, which it seem it does, they certainly are wonky. Pebbly instead of more plate-like. Quite ambiguous. He may come from a line where the breeder has been correcting leg scaling perhaps.

I find the worst scales generally in heritage or rare breeds kept by breeders who haven't heard of leg scale lines. You'd have to see some of those to believe the twisted angles, though! He's nowhere near as bad as them but while his legs aren't the best they could be, a lot of people would still breed him. If you choose to and check the chicks you'll know what he carries strongly. The leg scales are reliable and are the same pattern at hatching as they will be for life.

If I'm not sure enough about a male as carrying bad genes I breed him once with genetically similar as well as dissimilar hens, then breed his offspring back to him once to see what emerges. Best way to find the lurking genes in a bird of unknown ancestry I think. Saves me just incorporating 'good' roosters I get into the bloodlines only to find out in future he was not good, not at all, despite his appearance and the assurances of ancestry I may have received from whoever I bought him from. Also gives me a lot of inbred chooks to eat, which is fine by me as I have a large family to supply with meat as often as possible. If a spectacular bird that is too faulty for my liking is bred from the inbreed match I sell or give it to people who just want a layer, pet or foster broody if we're not keeping it for the same purpose/s. If the rooster is all that good then sometimes first generation inbreeds are worth keeping for breeding too. I run a few separate yet slightly linked family lines which I weave the main breed out of. I think they call it spiral breeding, where you keep three or so different families to breed judiciously with one another to achieve a separate but related breed. My rules aren't as final as theirs though.

Quote:
All the best, hope it goes well with you. It's great you're enjoying the learning curve, some feel overwhelmed and try to narrow it all down which is removing half the fun of having birds, methinks. I also find it very educational to breed not so good birds as well as good ones, sometimes I'm just curious as to where a suspicious recurring genetic trait is leading. Good to know! Better than not knowing, for sure. I'm also an artist, I was wondering how you manage to make a living off it! I'm still working on that aspect.