Rooster or Hen and what breed

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pastorjfish65

pastorjfish65

Hatching
5 Years
Feb 22, 2014
2
0
7
I got these two birds as mystery birds earlier this spring. I am not certain whether these are roosters or hens, I am guessing roosters!

Pictures 1and2 are the same bird Pictures 3 and 4 are of the same bird. Sorry for the rainy day pictures. thanks for the help

1
2


3
4
 
welcome-byc.gif


They look like hens, but how old are they?

My guess is some type of red broiler, with that massive size.
 
They are 16 weeks, We got them last spring. We started with a bunch of layers and a bunch of meat chickens. Somewhere along the line my kids mixed some of the chickens mixed together. Since these ones were not white like the cornish crosses that we had they must have ended up with the layers. Will they lay eggs? Will we have leg issues with them over time?
 
They both are hens. Yes, they have large combs. But, their tails are straight, and they do not have any saddle and hackle feathers. They would also be crowing by now, if they where roosters.

Perhaps, they are Red broilers. But, my first thought was hatchery quality New Hampshires. Those girls can be massive and tend to have large floppy combs.

These hens have red earlobes and will lay brown eggs... if they aren't laying already!
 
donrae said:
welcome-byc.gif


They look like hens, but how old are they?

My guess is some type of red broiler, with that massive size.
Click to expand...

I agree; something like Red Ranger or Freedom Ranger hens. They are primarily meat birds and will only be fair layers of brown eggs. The good news health-wise is that because red broilers are slower growing meat birds than Cornish cross, they will not develop the leg problems or other health problems that plague Cornish cross due to their abnormal growth rates.
 
They look just like the Red Rangers we raised this spring. I ended up keeping the 4 girls when we processed the boys just to see how they would lay. One started laying at 16 weeks and by 18 weeks they were all laying, but they were all over the map. The smallest one laid huge eggs but something went wrong and her brown eggs started coming out white and rough, the biggest one (she was ENORMOUS) laid these adorable quail sized eggs, one laid soft shelled eggs no matter how much calcium she got, and the fourth was a knucklehead who constantly laid off the roost, so there was always broken eggs in the morning. For the amount of problems we were getting as well as the amount of feed they were consuming vs what they were giving us back, they ended up going to the freezer by 20 weeks.

Sweet birds, but if I had it to do all over again I would have processed them with the boys. Just my experience.
 
I've heard mixed reviews about the red broilers as layers. Some folks have good luck and have hatched chicks off them, some not so much. They do eat a lot in relation to the return, so that may be something to keep in mind if expense is an issue.
 

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