What kind of roosters do I have?

We know nothing about poultry and have been given three roosters. Can anyone tell me what breed they are? They are not fully grown and have not started crowing yet. One is black and white. The other two are red with black/green tail feathers. Their feet are not the same color - one has very light colored feet and the other has dark yellow feet. One also has 5 toes (or claws, or whatever they are called) on each foot.

They were given to us to help with our tick problem. We haven't seen a tick since we got them. They are amazing bug eating machines. We don't have a coop yet but hope to start one this weekend. They have taken to roosting on my flower baskets under the gas lamps on our front porch. I can't blame them - that's probably the safest place right now so I will let them stay until we build them a coop.

We've only had them 2 weeks but I've sure grown attached to them. They run up to me when I show up with feed and follow me like puppy dogs. They love meal worms and eat them from a spoon. We named them Hewey (black/white), Dewey (red with light legs) and Louie (red with 5 toes).

Thanks for any information you can share about their breeds. Or any advice about chickens in general. I do know they were given to us because the previous owners needed to 'thin' their rooster population and as they get older we will probably have a problem on our hands. I'd like to add a couple of hens for fresh eggs. Will we need to reduce the rooster numbers to one? One rooster and two hens should be able to do what we need them to do.....eat ticks, lay eggs and entertain me. LOL!

The white and black looks similar to my light brahmas, but I can't be sure.....

They're all very pretty !!

Julie

Thanks, Julie. I tried to google different breeds but there are so many and too much alike. I'll check out brahmas again (I thought that was a breed of cattle! LOL!)

Have you been to feathersite.com the poultry pages listed tons of chicken breeds with lots of pics !!!

Julie

Thanks, Julie! I'll check it out.

The red one with white feet looks almost like an Orpington/Rhode Island cross. I only know because i have an Orpington Roo...and I am going to cross him with my new Rhode Islands...that is basically what I think they come out looking like.

That's interesting. I did think he looked somewhat like a Rhode Island Red but there are so many other reds out there.....wasn't sure. The other red is developing darker tail feathers and is looking more like his red companion. The only difference between them as far as I can tell is the color of their legs. Can the same breed have different colored legs? Does five toes mean anything?

I get the biggest kick out of them when them come running around the corner of the house when called. Half running - half flying - skidding around the corner as if they are racing each other. They are so talkative! Hewey, the white one, makes a very sweet sound all the time he's feeding. I'm guessing it's similar to a cat purring. Louie likes the mealworms so much that he waits until he's convinced it's 'only' cracked corn and no worms before he eats. The worms are a special treat.

My Orpington has white legs, and the RIR had yellow...I dont think the same breed could have two different colors of legs...but maybe if they were cross bred they could? Not really sure I guess. If you give me about 2 months for my first set of crossed eggs to hatch I will let you know what color their legs are!

I'd say the white is definitely a light brahma, he looks just like the roos a neighbor has that are light brahmas. He'll be a big big boy!

I agree, they are all attractive.

On the red ones, try "New Hampshire Red" and see if that looks like a match to you.

I'm willing to go with "Light Brahma" on the other one as long as it has feathered legs. If not, you might look for the "Columbia" pattern of markings on several other breeds (Plymouth Rocks, for example, although I do not think the comb on yours would match a standard Rock comb).

Free advice (worth every penny, LOL).

Ultimately, if you are really "in to" poultry breeds and varieties you might want to look for a publication called the Standard of Perfection available from the American Poultry Association. Pictures and descriptions of every recognized breed. Probably lots of copies floating around among your poultry friends if they show birds in competition.

Hewey (the white one) had a close call last night. The dogs woke me up at 5:15am barking at something in the gated courtyard. It was Hewey! He had squeezed through the bars on the gate and was backed up to the brick retaining wall acting traumatized. I noticed a tail feather hanging down and guessed he must have had a scare with a predator. I tried to catch him and return him to his roost even though I've never picked him up before. LOL - shoud have seen me trying to wrap him in a towel. He wasn't having any of that! I probably just traumatized him more. The other two roosters were still sound asleep on the front entry. Sure enough, there was a pile of feathers in the front of the house near where they sleep. I don't know what happened but I do know he was one frightened rooster and we need to hurry and get the coop built. Good news - he did a lot of crowing this morning (his 4th day to crow) so I guess he recovered.

Thanks for the input everyone. The friend that brought them to us will be here Thursday. Hopefully she can tell me what breed they are.

BDale, I googled New Hampshire Red and they sure do look more like mine than RIR. It's hard to tell about the Columbia rooster but it looks like a strong possibility, also. I got a good giggle out of your reference to our being 'in to' breeds and friends showing birds in competition. These are the first birds we've ever had and only acquired them from someone needed to get rid of some of their roosters. The extent of our knowlege is what we have learned in the last two weeks from experience and DG! LOL!

BackyardHens, do you really think he's going to be large? I don't have a clue about these things since they are our first.

Here's another question - how far away from the main house should the coop be? I think the site I originally chose is too close. From the amount of poop I hose off the front porch every day and the smell and the flies......we want it close enough that it's not inconvenient to put them up/let them out every day and collect eggs. It needs to be close enough to drag a hose to it to clean it out. But far enough away the smell and flies don't become a problem. Guess a lot depends on the terrain and which way the wind blows, huh?

Are ya'll having a good laugh at us silly 'city folk' and our ignorance????

Well, you can put the coop wherever you want, unless you have snow there, which I don't think you do. If you do, then you want to make sure that it is close enough to not have to shovel too far.

You will have shavings on the floor of your coop and you can clean those as you desire. With three roos you will not have too much smell.

Does the white one have feathered feet? If he is a brahma he will have feathered legs and feet. If he is a brahma he will be a big big boy, maybe 10 lbs or more if he is anything like the ones we have around here! :)

and you do know that three roos won't lay you eggs, right :) You'll need hens for those :)

the most important thing is to get them a coop stat, even if it is a temporary one. The predator will be back, maybe even tonight, so get on it!! :)

LOL! Ok, this much I DO KNOW......roosters don't lay eggs. LOL! We won't add laying hens until we get the coop built. Then we will probably have to give up two of the roosters and just keep one. That's what started this thread.....thinking about what 3 roosters would do when hens are added to the mixture. Edited to correct:: this is not the thread started for that purpose. This one was for id purposes. I'm getting them confused.

Yes, whatever chased Hewey (found another pile of feathers farther out in the yard) will probably come back tonight. We will leave more lights on and have the shotgun ready. I suspect it was a raccoon, but we have everything. I can't tell yet if he will have feathers on his feet. It doesn't look like it now.

Do hens smell worse than roos? (see - I'm learning to use new terms!)

This message was edited Aug 7, 2007 8:55 PM

We had a traumatic evening. All three roosters showed up behind the house at dusk - my theory is for protection. - they have been sleeping on the front porch. Maybe they thought the dogs (inside a fenced yard) would scare away a predator. They sat on the fence a while then came in the courtyard and looked around. Dewey and Louie tried to roost in a tall ligustrum shrub but there wasn't room for them. Hewey, for some reason, flew into the dog yard. Yes......it was horrible.......our dobi/lab mix, Sugar, grabbed him and ran off. My DH got him away from Sugar but his neck was broken and he didn't live long. Dewey and Louie were traumatized. They went to his body and didn't know what to do. Hewey had been the alpha rooster. They are now back on the front porch and we have all the exterior lights turned on. Ugh! I hope they make it through the night.

I'm not sure I want to do this chicken thing. If they aren't smart enough to stay out of the dog yard they will all be killed for sure. Even with a coop they would be let out during the day - the reason we got them was to eat ticks.

This is just moments before Hewey was killed.

i am so sorry....; losing these babies who mean so much to us is very hard....warm hugs to you:)

Don't feel as though you are alone is losing a pet to a pet. That stuff happens. I had 50 chickens/guineas/turkeys and four indoor/outdoor cats. One guinea keet (a royal purple) escaped and went missing, we fixed the problem (who knew they could fly through that small space) and when I let the older ones out one pearl keet ran out too. Well let me tell you these lil guys (6 weeks old) can fly. He roosted way the heck up in a cedar. I tried and tried nothing would bring him back. So I went back to the coop, grabbed (took a few) a keet and held him outside the coop so he cold n't see anyone else well he yelled his head off and the other keet came back, landing in a pine tree, then down to the ground, I put the other keet back in the coop and grabbed my handy net and as soon as I left he gate he flew up and was caught in mid-air by my cat Monty, I ran and ran, got him and Monty had broken his neck. Needless to say the space above the "screendoor" has a length of chicken wire to keep everyone in and if I go to the window right now I will see 9 happy keet sleeping there, I tuck it in when I slide the door shut and everyones safe!
And then we have my beautiful silver sebrights, I had 8, 7 hens and 1 rooster. One of which was my beloved Blondie. I personally hatched four, three hens and one roo and bought four more chicks which turned out to be hens. I let the older ones out to free range, turkeys, marans, silkies (the red ones are the only ones who want to go out????) sebrights and guineas. Well, two went missing. I found one and never found the other I did put a marker for her though, I am sure now it was Monty, this was before the keet killin, I just never put two and two together before seeing Monty get that keet.
So stuff happens, we do our best and stuff happens. We lose them from illness, genetics, our fault, predators and our own pets.
The Roo flew in, startled him and the food chain happened. I raised all my poultry around the dogs so they could sniff and look and well, Wilson, chased a few times, now they hang out with them in the tall grass and under the pine tree. They are like little herders! I knew my dogs loved cats but chickens too. You can tell they were picked out by my Hubby!!!!!

Chickens aren't the best at flying.... chances are he may have just been trying to find someplace a little higher up to roost so he would feel safe for the night and misjudged and landed in the dog yard. It happens.

The dog may not have threatened him through the fence before so he did not realize he was in danger from it.... ya never know.

People lose poultry to their dogs and cats everyday because their is no way my "precious" pet would do something like that... yeah right. Dogs and cats are hunter type animals and if given the chance, temptation etc they will make the most of it (I have 6 dogs and 2 cats plus a slew of other critters).
The rooster did invade the dogs space so it's not surprising he is dead.... sorry about that. I know it's never easy to lose something and I'm sure you're feeling guilty they didn't have a coop to sleep in.

I sort of feel bad for the roo though, he had the rough night before and he was probably a bit nervous and was hoping to find a safe place to sleep the next night. A coop/chicken yard is very important to keep them safe at night, otherwise they are just "a free meal"

I bet the other two roos learned not to go into the dog yard. And now that the dog has made a kill he may be more aggressive openly toward the poultry.

Good luck with the other two and the coop construction !!

Julie

I don't blame Sugar. She is a great guard dog but grew up in the city - not around farm animals. Very submissive to us but heaven help anything that gets in her yard! She's alerted me to water moccasins in the yard twice. She's killed birds, rats, moles, raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, snakes....you name it. The birds were looking for a safer place to roost after the attack the night before. I suspect they wanted to be close to the dogs for protection and Hewey flew into an area he didn't realize was part of the dog yard. I hardly slept at all last night not knowing where the other two were. Thank goodness they made it through the night and made their usual rounds eating moths under the garage lights this morning.

Fleurs,

Sorry you had to go through that experience. You've gotten some pretty sound and compassionate advice here, in my opinion, from people with direct experience about making sure there is a solid coop to avoid more poultry-dog interactions that end like this. A hard lesson, but glad your two remaining roosters are still with you and hope you can create a situation where "peaceful co-existence" is possible among your critters. Good fences (and in this case, good coops) make good neighbors.

We realize we need a coop as quickly as possible. It's in the works but won't be completed for a couple of weeks. DH only has weekends to work on it. Even with a coop the birds will be let out during the day to eat bugs and ticks - the reason we got them in the first place. We would not have put the 'chicken before the coop' except these roos were given to us and delivered without much notice. With any luck, we will still have the problem of what to do with one too many roos once it is completed.

Lora, that was a creative way of getting a bird out of a tree!

Do you have a garage ?? The roosters could sleep in there or a shed even until you have a coop built.

Here ( I live in the woods) most of the dangers are at night... fox, coon, owls, cats, etc.... During the day there aren't as many dangers...stray dogs, hawks, eagles, etc...

Sometimes no matter what you do you will still lose some to a predator or just an off the wall turn of events. We can only take each "event" as a lesson and move on the best we can trying to do better. We've all been there, it happens.

Julie

Thanks Julie. We live in the woods, too. We do have an enclosed garage and shop but we keep the doors down at night to keep out skunks, snakes, etc. It's too hot for any animal to be in there overnight. Wouldn't want the poop, flies, mites.....either. I had an idea this morning and will provide them a perch in the same area they've been roosting but off the porch. They will be next to the gas lamps but not pooping on the entryway. I think they will feel safe there - and will BE as safe as can be until they have a coop. Bless their little cock-a-doodle hearts.....life is hard!

Yes...we have all been there. I am so sorry for your loss. I know how it feels to loose one of them (I lost ALL but one in one night). We move on. Life is sad sometimes, and we just have to try to make the best of it. At least you still have the other two. We had a dog who I loved, but he wanted nothing more then to eat the chickens. He even went next door and would try to eat their chickens! We finally decided that the only way to make it work was to either keep him chained up all the time...or find him a home without chickens. He is happy now living with a new family, and our chickens are safe from him.

I just took some fresh tomato scraps out to the roos. Louie just talked, talked, talked, talked, talked......! I get such a kick out of him.