WakaFlockaChickens
Chirping
Hi everyone!
First and foremost, please know that I'm not overly concerned about whether or not this chick will in fact turn out to be a hen, and this post is mostly for fun and curiosity to hear other's views or opinions of the matter. I'm not always the most succinct person, so bear with me here!
I purchased five baby chicks a couple weeks ago (they are now 2.5 weeks old), two being sexlink, one autosexing, and the others being supposedly sexed (but I just assume straight run on those because I'd rather not get my hopes up). One of my sexlinks, however, is giving me pause. I'm starting to think she will in fact be a roo, and here is why:
The farm where I purchased the chicks calls this sexlink a "Chocolate Star" and says they are a cross of a Welsummer/White Plymouth Rock. Here is the first red flag! After reading much about sexlink chicks in the sticky thread, I see White Plymouth Rocks are not reliable silver birds, and therefore wouldn't necessarily sexlink. I also saw that taking a Red roo and a Silver hen leads to red female chicks and white/creamy male chicks. She is white/creamy with a little red around her face. Second red flag.
The last clues which are less clues and more me looking for reasons to believe she is actually a roo, is that she already has a relatively pronounced comb (compared to the others, but they others aren't the same "breed") and she's quite large but also somehow has grown the least number of feathers. This makes me think she's actually the youngest of the bunch, but she's also the biggest. Could just be that she's a big girl, but I'm suspect.
Again, I have two other birds that very well may be roos, so I'm not terribly concerned and know I'll likely be dealing with the rehoming of roosters down the line away, but I'm just super curious to know what everyone thinks. I've attached a couple pictures from when she was 2 weeks old (5 days ago) and I'll add more recent ones later if I can get good shots. I look forward to the friendly speculation! Place your [imaginary] bets!
First and foremost, please know that I'm not overly concerned about whether or not this chick will in fact turn out to be a hen, and this post is mostly for fun and curiosity to hear other's views or opinions of the matter. I'm not always the most succinct person, so bear with me here!
I purchased five baby chicks a couple weeks ago (they are now 2.5 weeks old), two being sexlink, one autosexing, and the others being supposedly sexed (but I just assume straight run on those because I'd rather not get my hopes up). One of my sexlinks, however, is giving me pause. I'm starting to think she will in fact be a roo, and here is why:
The farm where I purchased the chicks calls this sexlink a "Chocolate Star" and says they are a cross of a Welsummer/White Plymouth Rock. Here is the first red flag! After reading much about sexlink chicks in the sticky thread, I see White Plymouth Rocks are not reliable silver birds, and therefore wouldn't necessarily sexlink. I also saw that taking a Red roo and a Silver hen leads to red female chicks and white/creamy male chicks. She is white/creamy with a little red around her face. Second red flag.
The last clues which are less clues and more me looking for reasons to believe she is actually a roo, is that she already has a relatively pronounced comb (compared to the others, but they others aren't the same "breed") and she's quite large but also somehow has grown the least number of feathers. This makes me think she's actually the youngest of the bunch, but she's also the biggest. Could just be that she's a big girl, but I'm suspect.
Again, I have two other birds that very well may be roos, so I'm not terribly concerned and know I'll likely be dealing with the rehoming of roosters down the line away, but I'm just super curious to know what everyone thinks. I've attached a couple pictures from when she was 2 weeks old (5 days ago) and I'll add more recent ones later if I can get good shots. I look forward to the friendly speculation! Place your [imaginary] bets!