What in the heck is this?

[ch1ckmagn3t]

Ok, so, long story short, i have this coworker. She has this magical power, she finds abandoned animals on her nightly walks. Should she change routes? Undoubtedly.
Anyway, she found this little yellow thing. Hes a big dude now, ive had him about a week and a half and hes grown a lot already. People at my job speculate hes a turkey, others think he's a rooster. I thought he was a turkey, now i think hes a foghorn leghorn. Anywho, my coworker bequeathed this unknown creature onto me, and i was gonna wait til he grew to see what he was gonna be, but i just cant wait! Part of the reason is that hes really cute and im in love with his stupid personality and i want to keep him, i hope hes a girl and in fact not a turkey, or a miraculously untroublesome one.
So im asking you, backyard chickens forum, to bestow upon me your expertise. What is this little puffer? Chicken? Turkey? Male? Female?
Unrelated: his name is Clark Gobble.

 

[Pyxis]

It's too young to tell the gender, and it's definitely a chicken of some kind. If it's really growing as fast as you say, it may be a cornish cross, which is a meat bird. That wouldn't be great news for you because they tend to have short lifespans since they are bred to grow to a huge size quickly and generally are slaughtered by six to eight weeks of age.

 

[ch1ckmagn3t]

How on earth did i end up with a meat bird? How sad. He/she is such a cute little thing. It is growing really rapidly and honestly does look like its for bomb meat(im not gonna eat him but I'm not gonna sit here and say he doesnt look delicious)How old is it, do you think?

 

[drumstick diva]

You can extend this life somewhat if you restrict feed - some say 12 hours with food 12 hours without - so they aren't eating constantly. And make them exercise to get it. Like move the food dish farther away - allow to free range with others - so he has to work to get food and move around a lot. He is a cutie though.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Might have fallen off a truck or snuck out of a large meat farm. You might be able to prolong it's life though by feeding it a lower protein diet and encouraging it to move around and keep very active. Get it lots of outside activity time as soon as you can. I know someone who kept their hen alive for a year and a half. Granted she was on the smaller side but they kept her active with their laying hens and free ranging and gave her a layer pellet rather than grower/finisher feed. A year and a half is a very long life for the little cx and really when you think of it probably much better than the short life it otherwise would have lived. Watch how much it eats and like I said, just keep it very active, don't let it get lazy and lay around eating all day like most of them do. Let it be a chicken and do chicken things. With any luck and hopefully a good roll of the genetic dice you might have this little guy a good year as well and if carefully watched possibly longer. *crosses fingers* I wish you luck.