Were they gamecocks? If the kid was stealing or trying to kill the guy's brood birds from irreplaceable Kat Brazzell Mahogany or Tornado Gray stock there may have been more to it than a story of a hungry kid stealing chickens to cook. I believe they were fighting chickens, but the kid wasn't stealing them to eat or to sell. I don't think they were all that valuable either, not in that neighborhood. He was doing it as a part of a gang initition, IIRC, or perhaps just as a dare.
Well, I hate to hear about a kid going bad and being killed. That has been happening since time immemorial I guess.