7 new chicks and new to the coop! :)

[MrsDickey]

Hi all! I'm new to this site. We've recently just purchased 3 baby black australorps and 4 baby cochins. 2 smooth and 2 frizzle. I'm very proud of my little flock and can't wait for the eggs to start! I'm new to both of these breeds. I've read all I can about them online but any personal experiences and info will be greatly appreciated especially if you know how to sex them.. I'm dying to know what they are. Not sure how old they are but they're not tiny little fuzzy babies, they are feathered out. We originally wanted duel purpose birds for eggs and meat which I've read the australorps are, but the cochins were too cute to pass up.

 

[lightchick]

Hi and

Hope you enjoy the forum.
I just got a Black Australorp!

 

[Chick-a-dow-dee]

Welcome aboard! i know what you mean about wanting to know the genders. It made me crazy too but in a few weeks you can start seeing behavioral differences and once you see which gender acts which way, the feathers start coming in and you can start to see the physical differences too, at least that's the way most breeds are. I've read that with silkies all bets are off for about a year, however, my silkies are 3 months old and i think they're both cockerels. but time will tell... anyway, you'll love it!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on your new flock! Both those are nice breeds that make good pets, not sure if you have seen them, but both of those have a lot of member reviews in the breeds section, so a lot of personal experiences with them listed https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/cochin/reviews and https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/australorp/reviews
You might want to try posting pictures in the What Breed Or Gender Is This forum for help with figuring out what your chicks are, and how old, what age you can tell for sure depends, but usually by 6-8 weeks you can get an idea, some roosters will be really late bloomers though. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this this is a nice article from the Learning Center that covers some of the ways you can tell at various ages https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/is-my-chicken-a-pullet-hen-or-a-cockerel-cock
You might like to check out the BYC Learning Center, lots of good articles on all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center And it is always fun to check out your state thread for chicken keeping neighbors www.backyardchickens.com/t/501128/okies-in-the-byc-iii

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC.

 

[gander007]

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to the flock

 

[tiffmw10]

Welcome!!! How exciting.