Many folks use the cable "zip" ties to leg band their chicks. Yous witch them out as they get older. Never heard of using food coloring. Obviously it will molt out. You may just have to wait till they are closer to grown to choose.
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Here's a picture of a splash Rock from Halo's flock. I am going to use him to produce blues from some of my Good Shepherd pullets....stanYou are going to have to wait at this age its to early. Surely you can afford a few more dollars on this experiment till you find what you want. What are you trying to accomplish in the first place? Splash Rocks? Never heard of them.
They should be fairly easy to tell apart. Orpingtons have pink/slate legs and Rock have yellow legsHey guys,
I've got some cockerels and needing some reassurance in choosing the pure bred Rock. We were marking two splash Rocks with food coloring on necks to distinguish them from the mixed splash Orpington. Well, once outside the marking regiment slowed down and so now there are 3 splash of which I was sure of one being Rock. The green food coloring would turn yellowish as it aged and they molted. As I look at them I notice that there are random yellowish areas to the white naturally as they are still young. It throws doubt at the Rocks identity. Also the one I was once sure of is slightly larger than the others so that throws more doubt. He's the start of spectacular splash markings so my desire to keep that one may have clouded the thought he was Rock too.
When comparing full grown birds the Rocks would be unmistakable but as 10 week old's I'm in need of some pointers to aid in correctly choosing the pure breed. The Orpington mix have yellow legs so the obvious trait is unusable. They are a product of a pure blue Orp female, big fluff and white skin, and a Blue Orp rooster of mixed origin, good type but yellow legs. We need to start thinning out the cockerels but I could keep the three splash until I was sure. Just don't want to keep all three over over winter.
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Okay here are my guys! The Barred Roo is a cross between a Barnevelder Roo over a Barred Plymouth Hen. The other Roos are pure Silver Penciled Rocks. The Barred Roo is so pretty, look at his size!!! All are 13 weeks old and he is already bigger than his mom (the Barred Hen in the pic) and much larger than the to SPR Roos.
Check out the pretty green in his feathers. I actually like all 3 boys, they are different from any other roo I have owned. I think it is because these guys actually have mature hens to show them how to act. This is my second year with chickens so the first year the roos were the same age as the girls and had NO manners. None are here anymore.
And not to forget my SPR Girls, here are 2 of the 5, not the best 2 but the only ones that get close. The girls are more flighty than any others I have had.