Question about chickies

[KanoasDestiny]

I posted on here about three weeks ago when I brought home two little chickies. Pacey and Joey are almost a month old now. Wow, how time flies and how quickly they grow!

In the very beginning, Pacey was a tad bit bigger then Joey. Pacey has also been ahead in development - growing in tail, feathers, etc. Pacey is the more affectionate of the two and loves to fly up on my shoulder and nest, rather then enjoy freedom from the cage.

Even though Joey is behind in developing, he/she is now bigger then Pacey. Joey's legs have also gotten quite thicker then Pacey's, and three days ago, we noticed that Joey is also growing in a 'comb' (little bumps are getting bigger). Pacey has a bit of baldness where a comb should be, but does not have any bumps what-so-ever.

So my question is, is there any way to tell whether they are male/female at this age? You guys were right, I am absolutely in love with these little guys.

 

[JAX]

If they are both the same breed then I would say that Joey is probably a rooster and Pacey may very well be a hen. If they are different breeds then it could just be the differences starting to show. My little roosters always got their tails before the hens did.

 

[Miniv]

The comb development is usually the easiest way to tell. Last year we googled the topic and the various instructions were only a little helpful.

 

[susanne]

Hens also develop combs, so that's not a guarantee, but if you know they're the same breed, the rate of development can be an indicator.

From our original 14 new supposed pullets, one of the Wellsummers made his sex known almost immediately by challenging our (very big) rooster when he (the youngster) was only eight weeks old. He was rehomed. Now it appears that one of our Cuckoo Marans may be a cockerel, but this one has none of the precocity of the other one, and we will likely not know for certain for another few weeks.

Russell Crowe, our adult rooster, hid his gender until his two sisters began laying. He was gangly and had huge feet, but didn't give proof until he began crowing. Even the bantam rooster we had at the time was apparently fooled and tried to do his "roosterly" thing with Russell. Ahem.

All to say, maybe...maybe not.

.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Thank you for the replies. Joey seems to be the more bossy of the two and is the first one to investigate anything new. If one turns out to be a male and the other female, can they be in the same coop together? I'm not ready to get any more chickens just yet but I also wouldnt want the male assaulting the female either. If not, would it be ok to have them in pens side by side where they could touch through the wire?

 

[Miniv]

About keeping a rooster with a hen depends on how nasty the rooster ends up being. Fortunately we have a rooster who does breed our 3 hens, but he's a gentleman and I snatch up any eggs twice daily when I feed and put them in the fridge. We're not ready for chicks either.

I have a friend who had a rooster who was nasty. He would continueously peck at them and pull out their butt feathers til they were bald. That rooster was gone........probably chicken stew.

 

[susanne]

We've had two roosters (that we kept, anyway). Russell Crowe has the personality of a Labrador Retriever -- big, goofy and friendly. Russell is good to his hens...his only fault is that he cannot tell time and is infamous with our neighbors for crowing at 2am. Our bantam roo, Mel Tormé, was the nastiest thing to walk the earth and proved the theory that chickens are descended from dinosaurs -- he was definitely a velociraptor. He would fly or run across the property to attack us, hackles flared, triple spurs glinting in the sun. He laid my legs open one too many times, so he went to our feed store's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rooster re-homing program.

Interesting, Mel Tormé was hand-raised as a pet, held frequently and doted upon, but it was just his nature to be vicious. We did nothing special with Russell Crowe, but he took to following me around when I fed and worked with the horses all on his own volition, so his puppy dog personality appears to be innate. (He also takes his dirt baths on his back, kicking his feet in the air, and was caught once asleep with our cat in the horse blanket box. Sshhh -- we don't tell this to his hens...)

 

[Marsha Cassada]

If your hen is not "broody", you won't get chicks, unless you put the eggs in an incubator. The eggs won't hatch without being incubated. It takes about 3 weeks of incubation to hatch an egg. Most hens are not broody; I think it is bred out of them. Just treat them like regular eggs and enjoy!

If your rooster becomes a bully, you'll have to deal with it. Yes, he will likely dominant your hen and he might even peck her. But it's part of nature; don't get too concerned about it. Just be glad you are not a chicken , not only because of roosters, but because everything loves a chicken dinner.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

We've had two roosters (that we kept, anyway). Russell Crowe has the personality of a Labrador Retriever -- big, goofy and friendly. Russell is good to his hens...his only fault is that he cannot tell time and is infamous with our neighbors for crowing at 2am. Our bantam roo, Mel Tormé, was the nastiest thing to walk the earth and proved the theory that chickens are descended from dinosaurs -- he was definitely a velociraptor. He would fly or run across the property to attack us, hackles flared, triple spurs glinting in the sun. He laid my legs open one too many times, so he went to our feed store's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rooster re-homing program.

Interesting, Mel Tormé was hand-raised as a pet, held frequently and doted upon, but it was just his nature to be vicious. We did nothing special with Russell Crowe, but he took to following me around when I fed and worked with the horses all on his own volition, so his puppy dog personality appears to be innate. (He also takes his dirt baths on his back, kicking his feet in the air, and was caught once asleep with our cat in the horse blanket box. Sshhh -- we don't tell this to his hens...)

Susanne, your comment made me both fearful and laugh out loud. My cousins had a rooster when we were young that would follow us around the coop waiting for us to turn our backs to him. I can't say that I'm a lover of birds because of him and a couple of parrots I knew when I was younger. We did rescue a grown rooster a few years ago (but had no hens), and he was the perfect example of a "chicken". He was scared of us and didn't like to be handled, but as long as he had a fence between him and us, he was a mellow little guy. Not a mean bone in his body.

I am 99% sure that Joey is a roo. I've been paying attention and his actions seem more fitting of a rooster - he keeps flying at Pacey (herding?). His comb is getting more pronounced and redder by the hour, and little Pacey still hasn't gotten a bump. I also read that their chest color is a dead give away - black chest is male, brown is female. So much for hoping we would have two hens.

I'm also certain that they are either Easter Eggers or Welsummers. (Not really sure what the difference is?)

Marsha, so there's a good chance even if we have them stay together, Pacey would never hatch out babies?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

You cannot force a hen to brood. She either does it or not. If your hen is not a brooder, she will never sit on eggs to hatch them. Don't worry about being overrun with chicks! They are not like sparrows or wild birds.

Your hen will lay an egg, make a lot of noise about it, then run off to eat.

 

[susanne]

Even if she happens to be broody, so long as you collect eggs regularly, there's no chance of any hatching.

While not all roosters are sweet like Russell Crowe, I think very few are as wantonly aggressive as Mel Tormé. I would expect the best and hold them both as much as possible, but if your roo turns out nasty anyway, I would take the approach that life is too short for nasty roosters. Mel Tormé was the first and only animal I've ever had that I was happy to see leave.

 

[ROWIRA]

I raised both Welsummers and Easter Eggers this spring, and I'm 99% sure those chicks are Welsummers. The body coloring and the masking around the eyes is the real giveaway. Easter Eggers can be any color, and some of them looked similar to my Welsummers at that age. However, they developed muffs as they got older and their legs were blue/gray.

It's hard to tell from that photo if your chicks are hens or roosters. I always heard that if you flip them on their back, the rooster chicks will try to kick and fight you while the hens will keep their legs drawn up to protect their body. Not sure how accurate that is though.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Another thought about broody hens--the nice thing is YOU don't have to take care of the chicks, she does all the work! And it's really nice to observe. All the old sayings about hens and chicks is really true.

Our new chicken palace is almost ready for hens, and I am hoping we end up with one that will brood. It's been several years since we had chickens and I've missed them. We lost our last ones to predators, so the new compound is ultra secure.

 

[MindyLee]

Im tired of broody hens. lol!!!

I have 38 fancy bantam mini cochins and if 1 goes broody, it spreds like wild fire! Next thing I know, all are broody!!!

And these 2 are the worse and always start the fires!!!

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I went to the feed store yesterday and was looking at all their chickies. Once we build our coop (thinking 10x10?), I just might go and buy a couple more young hens - just so Joey will be happy and hopefully not pick on any one female in particular. I would have to get all of them different colors though, otherwise I might not be able to tell them apart. Lol.

We upgraded Joey and Pacey from a hampster cage to a rabbit cage yesterday, so they are enjoying more room and their new perch. I'm enjoying seeing them through the bars easier.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Im tired of broody hens. lol!!!

I have 38 fancy bantam mini cochins and if 1 goes broody, it spreds like wild fire! Next thing I know, all are broody!!!

And these 2 are the worse and always start the fires!!!

O wow! Are banty's more inclined to brood? I've only had heavy breeds and the only one that ever brooded was an aracana.

Do you use 2 banty eggs for one large egg?

Here is a photo of our chicken palace while under construction. My husband is working on the nest box in the picture; it is accessed from outside the house. The pen is an L shape around our garden, for grasshopper control. The house has a metal roof, and the shade area is roofed with metal. It is totally wired in. He dug a trench around the perimeter and buried heavy wire so nothing could dig under. Top is also wired. Our experience with predators has made us extra careful. He's fastening on the last of the wire now, so we are anxious to get our birds--the grasshoppers are starting to be a pest.

www.cassphoto.com/nestbox.jpg

We will let them out to forage sometimes during the day; we'll have to see how the little horses react. I have one that could be a chicken-chaser...

You dont' need to worry too much about telling Joey and Pacey apart from new birds; they make leg bands in different colors.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Marsha, how big is the pen going to be? (I know you mentioned it's in an L-shape.) Do you think that a 10x10 pen would be large enough? At tops, I would have five or six chickens (maybe let a couple hatch out if a hen gets broody).

I know this is going to be a stupid question but why does the 'collection' box hang out? Is it that hard to collect eggs from a hen?

 

[susanne]

Marsha, Our horses ADORE our chickens...well, Mingus and Flash do...Scarlett's nickname is It's All About ME!

Our chicken run makes an alley between our two corrals, so the two boys (gelding and stallion) spend hours gazing upon their flock. If there is any fighting or fuss, they both come running to see what's going on. Who knew we had FGHs? (Flock Guardian Horses)

This is a very unflattering photo of Mingus, dirty and still sporting his winter beard, but it shows how cute he is with his girls.

 

[MindyLee]

Yeah Bantams do seem to be a bit more broody then biggies.

I have 38 small mini chickens in a indoor coop made out oy 6x6x10 dog kennel pannels. Only 2 on the inside as I use my barn wall as the other wall. The outside pen is made the same pannels and have 5 there and use the outside barn wall which roughly makes a total of 9x18 inside and 10x30 outside. All fit pretty good!!! I also only have 2 big nesting boxs that hold 2 hens each which is more then plenty of egg laying room since they all fight over the same box.

 

[susanne]

In one farm blog I read, they put eggs from other hens under a particularly broody hen, and she happily sits on all of them.

If you go to the Backyard Chickens breed selection page, you can select a box for amount of broodiness you are looking for.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds