A few questions about my black shoulders.

[Glenmar]

I bought 2 BS chicks in September. They were very young. If one was a male, would it be showing any color on the neck yet?
I am thinking they are both hens.

Second. I have them in a pen with another young IB hen. The other hen, who is a bit older uses the roosts in the pen.
I have never seen the BS off the ground.

When I start freeranging them in the spring, are the BS chicks going to follow the others up high at night??

 

[Arbor]

If you are not seeing any colouring yet, they are probably both hens - especially if you don't notice any difference in the patterns of each bird.

Interesting they don't use the roost. They should start roosting, but that is no guarantee. I have a bronze hen that I have never seen off the ground either -she is going to be 5 this season. She always stays on the ground.

A little weird observation - when I was younger, my brother kept a rabbit in one of our pheasant pens (by itself), but it picked up on the habit of roosting on one of the perches for the night as it was almost 2 feet off the ground!

 

[Glenmar]

I just noticed some blue on the neck of one when the light hit it just right. Now I am back to thinking that I have a pair.

 

[deerman]

you have pics that would help....

 

[frenchblackcopper]

This summer I spent a lot,,and I mean a LOT of time observing the young birds I hatched from 2010. I wingband all my birds when they are a few days old,,thanks to a great tip from Deerman,,but making positive identification visually between many like colored peas is impossible unless you catch them and read wingbands.All summer long I had 2 males resembling India Blues that seemed to have wider,thicker black outlines coming on their upper wings.Now those two males are completly covered with black on their upper wings. Further inspection done a few nights ago by reading their wingband numbers showed thru my records of eggs bought,one is a Blackshoulder Midnight and the other is a Blackshoulder India Blue. It seemed more easily noticable on these two males, they was diffrent by the amount of black barring increasing with age on their wings.Although my Midnight B/S looks the same color of Blue as all my other India Blue males,I'm hoping there will be a big diffrence visually this spring in his train,compared to his India Blue counterparts.I didn't notice anything diffrent on their neck feathers compared to others.Hens will not have any barring on their feathers and will beome a creamish-white color with some mottled black feathers scattered if they are B/S.