What Breed is this Free Range bird?

[GrammiChelle]

This is Bruno. I live in Texas and rent my home and property. The homeowners used to raise roosters for cockfighting. Yes, of course it is illegal, but he did it anyway.
So when we moved in, these chickens were left here and so I feed them and make sure they have water. We have Bruno, I named him. He's a beautiful brave bird I can't get very close to him, but he does a good job and thank to him, two of his hens have raised chicks. They free range and sleep in the trees in the goat pasture. We have lots of mesquite trees and the get up into those very easily. Bruno crows at night about 8 pm and tells the hens to get in bed. If they don't listen, he gets bossy with them and chases them up into a tree. It's kind of funny to watch.
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This is one of Bruno's hens with a chick that's about 8 weeks old. I can't decide if it's a pullet or roo yet. It walks like a roo, but I don't see any signs of red comb or wattles yet, so I don't know.
All of them have very brought yellow legs. Bruno is a tall, compact shaped bird, so I thought maybe he's got some Game Fowl? The long, yellow legs made me think maybe some Leghorn?
They might not be a straight breed. Could be mixed breeds, I guess. But I like them. Bruno, especially since I have a soft spot for roosters.

 

[soydo]

American Game chickens. they come in all combinations of colors, so the yellow legs do not mean a thing except it has genes for yellow legs.

To me he and the chick seems slightly heavy in type so possibly he has a class of Game called Oriental running a little bit in him. Orientals are generally a more upright, heavier in bone and muscle and also are also a type of fighting chicken but kind of in a different 'style'. Maybe like heavy weight boxer vs light weight karate fighters?

The chick is a male. With this group you probably have a reliable way to tell the sex of chicks by their neck colors- boys showing fair bit of red and a row of blue feathers on the wing. Female chick necks would be a different shade of brown or just dark. One other clue would be increasing amounts of black on male breasts. Once you see a bunch of chicks it's easy to get the hang of it with this color type.


Do be prepared to see some amount of aggression between males as they mature, it is in their nature...

 

[GrammiChelle]

Thank you so much! I thought the chick was a roo, by the way he struts around, but I didn't know the neck color was a clue, but Bruno and the chick both have a row of blue wing feathers. I'm glad. We are on 5+ acres, so there's plenty of room for another rooster.
Bruno has three hens, the one shown here, one that has 4 chicks, and a third, a light colored one, that is starting to act broody.
I think he's a great bird and he's teaching me to speak chicken.
Do you have any tips for properly feeding or taking care of this breed of bird I should know about? thanks!!!

 

[KendyF]

Thank you so much! I thought the chick was a roo, by the way he struts around, but I didn't know the neck color was a clue, but Bruno and the chick both have a row of blue wing feathers. I'm glad. We are on 5+ acres, so there's plenty of room for another rooster.
Bruno has three hens, the one shown here, one that has 4 chicks, and a third, a light colored one, that is starting to act broody.
I think he's a great bird and he's teaching me to speak chicken.
Do you have any tips for properly feeding or taking care of this breed of bird I should know about? thanks!!!

Beautiful birds thanks for sharing, and I am glad they have found a friend! I am curious if you get eggs from them

 

[soydo]

Yes, I should have said thank you for taking care of those birds!

As they're truly free range you can get away with real basic feed for them as they're getting lots of veggies and fresh protein. No need for getting complicated(chick starter, chick grower, game fowl feed and so on) or fancy feed. Maybe a regular chicken layer feed? It would give them some things they might not be getting enough of on the range, perhaps calcium?

Scratch is usually well liked however it's best as a treat as it's kind of empty like candy for kids(only a very few types of grains) but if they are eager to eat this up, could use it as something to get them a little more comfortable with your presence.

If you have a dog or cat, their feed can be a great supplement for them. The only thing the little chicks won't be able to manage the pieces until big enough. Also not a good idea to leave a bowl out as it can attract predators- coons, possums etc. so if you want to give some and they eat it up eagerly, feed only a handful- enough for them to clean up in a few minutes.

I think a regular chicken layer given daily with some scratch given whenever you feel like it by hand would be good enough.

 

[GrammiChelle]

Well, that basically what I've been doing. I just throw a pile of the chick started I have for the chicks in my coop out for the free range birds. I also give them hen treats I buy for my birds. My coop birds are allowed to free range a couple of hours at the end of every day, and I toss out goodies for them to "find". Whatever is leftover, the really free range birds find the next day. Everyone seems to be growing and thriving so I must be doing okay
Thanks for all the help!

 

[nancypo]

What a gorgeous bird! Good for you caring for them...

 

[GrammiChelle]

These are the four other free range chicks and their smart mama. :/ These chicks are here because a beautiful rooster named Stanley sacrificed himself protecting them against two neighborhood dogs. ( it's a long story, addressed in another forum, but the dogs owners did apologize and seems to be keeping her dogs on her property since)
Anyway, the hen safely finished setting the eggs, and had these four beauties hatch out. One of the chicks is very dark, and was the runt to start with but seems to have caught up. But it's still very dark, but not really black nit will be interesting to see what happens as it develops
She's a very good mama and they now roost in the trees at night with her. I did manage to cage them in the goat pasture, protected by our Livestock Guardian Dog for about a month. I kept them supplied with chick starter and water and other treats. They had plenty of protein from bugs that got into their cage. I think they're growing up well and suspect at least one rooster, if not two, from this group of four. Makes me very happy, even though none of them show any signs of having Stanley's unusual coloring

This is brave Stanley, who died protecting a sitting hen. The chicks made it, and through a recent South a Texas Flash Flood, so they're tough little birds!! But Stanley had unusual coloring, different from the other roosters around. I don't see any sign of it in his offspring yet and that kind of makes me sad. It's hard to see in the pics, but the last few feathers on his wings were really green.

 

[nancypo]

Wow, he was a very handsome bird! Quite the tail, and a brave soul....

 

[smarsh]

bruno will be trying to steal your hens when you let them free range.