Pencil Laced Plymouth Rock Chicks -- 5 weeks -- Roo or Pullet?

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kimchick621

kimchick621

Chirping
7 Years
Oct 23, 2012
120
1
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I have 3 chicks that were given to me by a local breeder. I thought I had two pullets and a roo, but today now I'm not so sure.


Here are some pictures of the one I'm pretty certain is a roo.




Look how pink his comb is and his cute little waddles growing in.






The next one I'm pretty sure is a pullet. Although I'm concerned she looks more barred than pencil laced. It won't matter so long as she ends up being a good layer I suppose.










So, this is the one that I'm not sure of. It's a runt, and less developed than the other two, which I think is why the breeder let me keep it. I was certain for a while this was a pullet until I noticed cute little pink waddles under it's face today. The roo popped his out a few days ago, and the other one I'm sure that's a pullet still doesn't have hers.






.


Would love your thoughts!! Thanks :)
 
2 cockerels and a pullet...why are they so featherless were they in a to crowded area before or is someond picking feathers out?
 
They're in a small pen in my garage right now. It's been pretty cold to send them outside just yet. I think maybe it's time to start weaning them off the heat lamp a bit more. Bummer, two roos. :(

Any thoughts to which roo I should keep? The more manly roo, or the late bloomer?
 
thats to hard to tell with such little feathers and due to that i would keep them under the light until they get better feathers. have you looked at them for mites or lice? we had an outbreak once and the chicks were affected by lice as lice live on the birds and chew the feathers it makes them bare like your pics show, as do adult birds with lice also lose feathers and become bald. also you need to take into account their behavior the longer you can keep them the better off you will be at picking the better cockerel
 
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I haven't checked them over for mites or lice, but I haven't seen any either and I'm usually pretty good at casually finding them. We handle these fellas quite a bit, so I'm thinking I would have seen it. I honestly just assumed the lack of feathers was because they're being raised inside. I typically do the broody momma method, but these fellas were rejected by my broody so I stuck them under a lamp. I have one single chick outside with momma, and she feathered before her indoor pseudo-siblings.
 
And I should also point out that the last one is simply a runt. It is considerably smaller than the other two, and for a while there I expected it to die. It seems hardy, even though developmentally its behind it's siblings. Do the other two seem to not have feathered well?
 
Some roos just feather in sloppy. I've had a couple look like that, it's always pretty pathetic/funny :p
 
your pullet looks different because she is a she. Your little runt could be younger. Roosters sometimes feather in slower than pullets, my Thai cockeral was almost bald until he was 4 months old, they have "hard" feathering, which mens they dont have all the fluffy stuff.


silver penciled rocks from Feathersite.com, hen and roosters look different
Etchings.JPEG
SilPenRockCkl.JPEG
 
I knew they looked different as adults, and the two bigger ones are easy for me to tell the difference now. The runt though I was checking this morning and now I worry he may not be as hardy as I thought. His tail feathers this morning (what little he had) are carried downwards. He just might not make it after all. He still plays and chest bumps the other two and gets feisty, but we'll see. I'm hoping more feathers come in during the next week that helps me determine what I have.

Thanks for the pictures...I can't wait for the roo to grow up, he's going to be so pretty. :)
 

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