Well, I really hope you're right! I was a bit worried at the prospect of nearly all of them being cockerels.
I had read that the cockerels' combs would start to go pink by 6 weeks so I had been quite hopeful about the other five since their combs are still so pale. The three that I think are cockerels (white, green and yellow) have had the pink colour for a long time.
They have also been acting like cockerels and have even had some fights where all three of them had bloody combs. I was a bit shocked because I didn't think they'd fight so young. Thankfully they only did it for a couple of days and seem to have their ranking settled now. Interestingly, they kept it within their own breed even though the two breeds are all together. They didn't dare challenge the Light Sussex cockerels who are much bigger and clearly the main bosses. The other 5 Australorps have kept right out of it and seem uninterested in the rooster pecking order. Could they just be slow developing and still start to turn pinker and act more feisty in the next couple of weeks?
Thanks, I will do that.
I don't but I'm quite confident about the Light Sussex myself. I know they are only 6 weeks old but the difference between them is very obvious in every way (leg size, body size, comb, wattles, head shape, colouring, behaviour). They seem to be maturing very early. There are four definite cockerels and one that I'm 99.9% sure is a hen.
The four Light Sussex cockerels have also been fighting but not in a vicious way like the Australorps. They have a lot of stand offs where they circle each other with the necks bent low and then they jump kick each other, ninja style! It's quite funny to watch while they're so young and not actually hurting each other. They also don't bother challenging the Australorp cockerels but they do sometimes give them a hard peck on the back to keep them in their place. They don't do it to the Light Sussex hen or to any of the five other Australorps that aren't definite cockerels.
