24 Week old Chickens

[Lhoward42]

I see the bullseye. No doubt in my mind it's fertile. Put that with the crowing...well.

Those are all girls.

 

[JadeFarms]

Unless somebody is pecking them and pecked the saddle feathers off. They all look like girls

 

[NatJ]

Suggestion: pick up each chicken and look at their butts. A hen that is laying will have a stretched out vent, and the little bone ends that can be felt near the vent will be far apart. A non-laying hen, or a rooster, will have a small puckered vent, and the little bone ends will be quite close together.

We were given 20 chicks from the 4H Poultry Club 24 weeks ago. They’re suppose to be all females. We have 14 or so that are laying so far.

If you can figure out which ones are laying, you should only have 6 or so that "might" be a male.

Also, do you have a camera that can be set to record what happens in the chicken pen each morning? That could help find the one that crows.

If you are willing to have even more chickens, you could put a few eggs in an incubator. An egg might possibly look fertile when it's not, but there's no mistaking a hatched chick!

 

[JadeFarms]

Suggestion: pick up each chicken and look at their butts. A hen that is laying will have a stretched out vent, and the little bone ends that can be felt near the vent will be far apart. A non-laying hen, or a rooster, will have a small puckered vent, and the little bone ends will be quite close together.



If you can figure out which ones are laying, you should only have 6 or so that "might" be a male.

Also, do you have a camera that can be set to record what happens in the chicken pen each morning? That could help find the one that crows.

If you are willing to have even more chickens, you could put a few eggs in an incubator. An egg might possibly look fertile when it's not, but there's no mistaking a hatched chick!

I agree, you should do that it will help the mystery roo be solved a lot faster.

 

[Lhoward42]

So another novice question if we have a rooster is it a big deal they’re eating layer feed?

 

[black_cat]

So another novice question if we have a rooster is it a big deal they’re eating layer feed?

Over long term, the extra calcium could be damaging to them. All flock is good as long as you're giving extra calcium, like oyster shell, to your hens.

 

[Lhoward42]

Ye

I agree, you should do that it will help the mystery roo be solved a lot faster.

Yeah I’m not sure I’m there yet!! I can put my hands in a cows butt to pull a calf but not sure about chicken anatomy!

 

[NatJ]

So another novice question if we have a rooster is it a big deal they’re eating layer feed?

Big deal, no.
Some people say the extra calcium in layer feed is bad for roosters (effects show up after months or years of eating it.)
Some people say they've had roosters that lived to a healthy old age eating layer feed.

The common advice is to feed all-flock or flock-raiser feed (has a lower level of calcium), and then provide free-choice oyster shell so the hens can eat it for calcium. Apparently oyster shell only tastes good to chickens that do need it, so roosters and chicks sample it and then leave it alone.

 

[NatJ]

Yeah I’m not sure I’m there yet!! I can put my hands in a cows butt to pull a calf but not sure about chicken anatomy!

Literally, turn the chicken upside down and look at her butt. Then the next one. If they all look alike, then they are all layers. Once you have seen both types, it really is obvious.

http://csuhort.blogspot.com/2016/04/determining-your-hens-productivity.html
The first picture on this page shows the vent of a hen that is laying.

One that is not laying has a much smaller vent, and it looks sort of puckered up. Sorry, I'm not finding photos right now, but it really does look a lot different.

(Think, "can an egg fit through that?" If yes, she's laying. If no, she's not.)

 

[Lhoward42]

Literally, turn the chicken upside down and look at her butt. Then the next one. If they all look alike, then they are all layers. Once you have seen both types, it really is obvious.

http://csuhort.blogspot.com/2016/04/determining-your-hens-productivity.html
The first picture on this page shows the vent of a hen that is laying.

One that is not laying has a much smaller vent, and it looks sort of puckered up. Sorry, I'm not finding photos right now, but it really does look a lot different.

(Think, "can an egg fit through that?" If yes, she's laying. If no, she's not.)

Well I can now put that on my resume