Made you look! We will be taking about a cock, and possession being 9/10 of something or other, he may even be mine.
I own some property a few hours’ drive from where I actual live (I’d rather not own it, but that’s for the Pit, not GQ). I don’t get up here often, usually only on holidays because it’s near some of my relatives and it makes for easy visiting. I was last here about a month ago.
This morning I discovered that someone has built a makeshift chicken coop in the backyard. When I went to investigate, I was roundly chastised by this guy.
The man who keeps an eye on the place tells me that a neighbor has been taking care of this feral (Escaped? Abandoned? Discarded? ) rooster. She called the humane society and they won’t take him, so she’s been caring for him. Why she set up shop in my yard, I have no idea.
Can anyone tell me what kind of cock I have here? He appears to be small, as domestic fowl go. I think he’s bigger than the bantam cock at the barn where I had my horse, but he seems smaller than my sister’s Rhode Island Red hens.
I’m going to try to get someone to re-home him. I don’t want a pet rooster, and I can’t imagine he’s good for much besides making chicks or turning into dinner.
I had araucana chickens once, and the cock looked like this, which kind of looks like the one in your picture. If you had a hen, it would be easier to tell, because they lay green eggs. (No ham, though.)
ETA: Araucanas can be small, like you described – bigger than a bantam but smaller than standard.
Where are you? If you are near enough to connecticut we would be happy to take the critter, our last cock died so all we have is hens [well and geese and guinea fowl, but they don’t really interact with the hens]
Aruvquan, the rooster is in Wisconsin. While that’s closer to Connecticut than, say, Beijing, I doubt that it qualifies as “nearby.” Thank you for your offer, though.
Freckafree, I could believe he’s an araucana. cwSpouse suggested that he’s a discarded 4-H project, and I recall from my 4-H days that araucanas are popular project birds.
EmilyG, my neighbor built a coop (without my knowledge or permission) in my yard. I assume he’s taking shelter in there when he’s not sitting in my pine tree. The coop is made from a couple of huge dog crates bedded with straw and covered with a couple of layers of tarp. It looks very secure and it’s probably quite safe and comfortable.
This whole thread is exactly why we were forced to begin calling the male Gallus domesticus a rooster. Hmph.
You could have what is called a “barnie” – sort of the equivalent of barn cats, they are chickens that hang out around a farm for generations (of chickens). if you are clever enough you can find their eggs, but they fly well, roost in trees at night, and make their own marital arrangements. They are usually very hard to catch unless you grab them at night while they’re sleeping. They tend to revert to the original colors – muted browns for the hens, your cock’s coloring for the . . . males.
