Newbie in VA, no idea what I have :-)

[sourland]

Good morning, Liz, and a belated welcome to BYC.

 

[caelfi]

I’m a new chicken owner in Virginia! I got the chicks from my son’s kindergarten class and the teachers had no idea what type of eggs they were given. They’re 6 weeks old now. Half my chicken loving friends say meat birds, half say ISA browns. Who knows?! I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ve got 4 ISA hens and 3 roosters. We’ll be building our co-op soon and I’m excited to have them out of the house, because frankly they smell bad . But I’m loving this journey so far!

How old are they? The nutritional needs of meat birds and layer birds are significantly different.
Do the white ones have an insatiable appetite?
They could be
White rocks
Leghorns or
Cornish rocks.
I suggest taking one of the white ones to the county extension agent to see if they can help you identify them.
Meat birds require 22-24% protein feed where laying hens need 16-18% protein.
Cornish rocks are ready to butcher between 7-9 weeks
White rocks or leghorns take 6 months, so you need to find out. Cornish rocks or Cornish cross grow so fast and eat so much that they basically have to be butchered after 9 weeks they get too heavy to walk or move around their hearts just can’t take the strain.
I butchered mine at 7 weeks and some of my birds after plucking and evisceration weighed out at 7.75 pounds at just 7 weeks.
I hope this helps