Ok, Take a stab at the gender

[ctcasper]

I have one other thing to add. The place where I picked up my chickens had like 100 and some chickens, 4 different breeds, and they were all had about the same size ... their combs and wattles and everything were very similar. So I wonder if they had all roosters or if they are a little older than they said???? I am not sure. I tried to pick the ones with the smaller combs and less red in them, but I was also trying to pick the bigger and healthier looking ones because some of them had a lot of their feathers picked off. Any thoughts on this at all, do you think they just had roosters in there then???

 

[Jster]

Did you ask them if they were sexed or roos or straight run? What were they selling them for (meat, eggs)? If they didn't say they were pullets, they probably weren't...at least that's been my experience. And they look rather roo-ish to my inexperienced eye as well.

 

[ctcasper]

They said they were straight run and that all the breeds they had were brown egg layers, so I assume they bought a straight run of good laying breeds. They just didn't want all of them. I don't think they kept any buff orpingtons if they did it was only one and they weren't letting anyone take them because they knew I was coming, so I don't know what to think???

 

[mom'sfolly]

All those buff orps look like boys to me. My three month old BO girls have much smaller combs than the ones in your picture. I would be a little suspicious about a straight run lot that netted me all males; maybe your feed store bought cheaper males and passed them off as straight run. Oops, looked again, I think #9 might be a girly.

 

[ctcasper]

Okay, I took "the boys" out of the coop for a while today and they definately act like roosters as far as I can tell. The one that some thought might be a hen, #9, seemed a lot more timid most of the time, stayed in the coop seemingly more while the others were exploring, etc. But then she/he got mad or something and their neck feathers puffed out a lot. She glared...or so it seemed at the other. So I am not sure what to think. What are the main distinguishing behaviors to tell them apart. A lot of them are fighting a lot, so I am sure I have mostly roos. I just want 1 HEN to keep. If there is one hen, how long can I leave 14 roos with that one hen before I have to seperate them?????

thanks