Recent content by thlayli

This is the kind of dark and glossy I mean. See the "cape" of dark red feathers? You should be starting to see those on Teddy's wings if she was a boy.

They would be a dark, mahogany red. Her coloration is female. The color black in chickens should be glossy and green in the light on a healthy bird, regardless of sex.

Your OE look to be pullets. The GLW has a suspiciously red comb for only 7 weeks, but that isn't a dead giveaway unless it really pops and gets bright in the next couple of weeks. I'm leaning cockerel but it isn't a done deal. I can't tell on the SLW. Assume it's a pullet until it either crows...

Hen/Roo game has a lot of rules. There are certain traits that cockerels will have at prepubescent ages that pullets are less likely to have (large red combs and wattles, namely), and there are certain colorations that only females can have that males never ever will (look up silver duckwing...

I didn't see any cockerels in any of the photos you posted

The 3 brown chicks have female specific coloration. Cockerels won't look like that. They're girls. Teddy is female.

Probably. Male sapphire gems are barred, so since that is a barred blue bird out of a Sapphire Gem bin, I think it's safe to say it's a cockerel.

The sex-linking produces barred males and solid females. It isn't made with them. The parent stock are solid males and barred females

If they are Prairie Bluebell Eggers then they are cockerels. That is a sex-linked cross with barred males and solid females. I can't tell you if that is actually what they are though, but the color looks about right.

They're all being made into soup if there isn't a lot of meat on em. If there is, they'll be portioned out into quarters and breasts and used in crock pot meals. No matter the age, they will be cooked long and slow.

I might have to process them closer to 10 weeks than 16. I've butchered 16 wk old cockerels before and they've already entered their gangly teenage phase -- all growth spurt and no meat. I'll try a batch at 12 weeks and 20 weeks and see how it goes.

What do you consider early and young?

Hey guys, thank you for replying! @U_Stormcrow: My All-Flock feed is 18%. The meat bird feed is usually 22-24%, but game bird feed where I am runs to about 30%. I have not compared prices between game bird feed and the previously mentioned feeds. My Ams are true Ams, not mixes (I do have EEs...

I have a flock of dual purpose chickens (Ameraucanas, Orpingtons, and Marans) that I can cross to produce sex links. Easy enough to sell the pullets, and I keep the cocks for table. However, I've just been feeding them regular chick feed and then all-flock feed from about 12 weeks on. I want to...

I love my Orpington, Harold, although his lieutenant, Obi Wan, who is a true black Ameraucana, is a close second. I had a pool of about 18 cockerels to choose from, and those two were the only ones to pass the Not an Asshole test. They're calm, respectful, alert, attentive to the hens, and they...