10 week old Delaware pullets

[alaskachick]

Hi.. I am a newbie who posted her introduction post yesterday. Here is my question.... I picked up 10 Delaware hens and 1 Delware rooster from the Seller. She had about 400 10 week plus pullets in one barn stall. The hens and roosters were all mixed together. I brought them home and inspected them and I am not able to tell which is the rooster. They all look the same at this stage. There are budding combs but they all have them the same size. What did she see that I can't? I'd kinda like to single him out so that I can watch his behavior develop, but right now I have no idea which one he is. My mom said she could tell which one it was because the rooster looks more ferocious, HELLOOO! how can that be true?

Also, some one who greeted me yesteday asked why I chose Delawares. Well I think they are so pretty with their varigated black, grey, white necks, white bodies, and black tails. There are good layers in cold weather and that is mightly important here in Alaska. They are due to lay their eggs in August orso. Thanks for your reponses. LouAnne

 

[BirdBrain]

Can you post pictures? Also, who did youu get them from? Come join the Alaska hatchers thread in the incubating forum...we talk about all kinds of things.

 

[alaskachick]

I can post pics and I bought the chickens form a lady who has a large red barn. She calls her self Grany on her car license plates. She lives on Bodenberg Loop back in the Butt. She sells Delwares, Leg Horns and Red sex links.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
Do any of them have a pinker/redder comb than the others?

 

[dela1991]

I know what you are going through. I have 6 Delawares about the same age as yours. Two are supposed to be roosters and I have someone who wants one of them. The two that I suspect are the roosters were slow to feather out and are still all white. They both have bigger, reddish combs. I would feel pretty good about knowing that they are the two roosters except for one of the "hens" has the thickest legs of the bunch. Her comb is not as big, but is bigger than the other hens. She is the largest of the bunch by far. And her coloring is the same as the other hens. I don't have a digital camera to include pictures or I would. The person who is taking a rooster would probably take two as she has a large flock of about 100 with three roosters. I just don't want to get rid of all of my roosters. I guess if my "big girl" ends up being a rooster, I can give her away later. Good luck.

Terri

 

[alaskachick]

Hi Terri, Thanks for responding.... I was so sure that I had all hens and no rooster that I called the Seller again and asked her how she picked out the rooster from the 10 hens. She said she had them separated, hens from roosters. I just don't know. I have been reading how the birds and the bees work with chickens. I am not really willing to look into all those identical chickens rears to figure out which is the rooster. The reading material said to check for "saddle feathers" along the back of the birds and the rooster should have longer ones. This also I can not see as well as all the combs are the same size... teeny buds. oh well.. I will just have to wait and see and if I got an extra hen, thats fine, I'll just go back to the lady and get a rooster, but this time I will make her check the rear end before she hands it to me! LouAnne

 

[briteday]

Even as day-old chicks I can usually identify my dual purpose roos by the size of their ankles/legs...when you compare them to the others of the same breed. It's not prefiect but I don't know how to vent sex. Also, many of the roos will be noticeably heavier when you hold them in your hands. I ordered six pullets from the feed store and when I was lifting them out of the brooder to change bedding I noticed that one was felling heavier. Sure enough, I compared his legs tothe others...big, thick legs comparatitively. Since then he has definitely progressed into a rooster for sure. He has a huge comb at 12 weeks old and I expect him to crow any day. The other thing I've observed about raising chicks over the last few years is that if any one bird or birds is being feather picked by the others it is almost always the rooster being picked on. This year I got 3 straight run banties and the two that got picked turned out to both be roos. Also, tha pullet run with the roo was the same way. The one that turned out to be a roo got all of his tail feathers pulled out and then they started on his chest feathers.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
You mean he was henpecked?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[trv005]

My one and only Delaware. First is at 9 weeks second at 12 weeks. Aggressive since 4-5 weeks. Love this birds curiosity and tenacity but I ordered all females. Pretty sure based on featuring of the tail, comb and wattle size and the huge leg shanks this is a Roo. Anyone else think so?

 

[rc4u]

the rooster wil have very short tail till about 13 weeks and short wing feathers the hens have long tail and wing feathers..jeff