whitewood
Chirping
Hi Everyone,
We started rearing chicks about 3 weeks ago and now have one of each of these babies:
- California Gray
- Buff Orpington
- Barred Plymouth Rock
- Black Lace Red Wyandotte
- Black Ameraucana
- White Jesery Giant
- French Cuckoo Maran
- Splash Olive Egger
We are very excited and working hard to learn to care for these chicks. We have 2 school-age children and 1 teenager. These chicks have been such wonderful pets for our younger two. Now that the chicks are older, they need more space so my husband just finished building a 3.5 x 16 run for them to use in the day when weather permits. We are now going to start building a coop with another tall run.
Need some advice here:
All chicks are sexed to be pullets except for the Splash Olive Egger (straight) - named Kreamy. It is showing rather aggressive behaviors that we are guessing it may be a cockerel. It is now 5 weeks old (1 and 2 weeks older than the others) It is much bigger in size and started intentionally pecking on the younger chicks, esp. the Orpington (named Ginger). We separated it from the rest of the flock (with hardware window on both brooders) 3 days ago. When they are outdoors, we let it roam with the rest until it starts to peck others. It seems to be telling every chick that he is the boss here. Some bolder chicks would challenge it by jumping and standing tall, chest-to-chest kind of position or stare eye-to-eye with it. When Kreamy attacks, the feathers/fur around its neck puffed up. My kids and I thought we read somewhere that this is one sign of a cockerel. It is now 5 weeks old, can we accurately identify if it's a pullet or cockerel? Anyone has any advice. Thanks!
We started rearing chicks about 3 weeks ago and now have one of each of these babies:
- California Gray
- Buff Orpington
- Barred Plymouth Rock
- Black Lace Red Wyandotte
- Black Ameraucana
- White Jesery Giant
- French Cuckoo Maran
- Splash Olive Egger
We are very excited and working hard to learn to care for these chicks. We have 2 school-age children and 1 teenager. These chicks have been such wonderful pets for our younger two. Now that the chicks are older, they need more space so my husband just finished building a 3.5 x 16 run for them to use in the day when weather permits. We are now going to start building a coop with another tall run.
Need some advice here:
All chicks are sexed to be pullets except for the Splash Olive Egger (straight) - named Kreamy. It is showing rather aggressive behaviors that we are guessing it may be a cockerel. It is now 5 weeks old (1 and 2 weeks older than the others) It is much bigger in size and started intentionally pecking on the younger chicks, esp. the Orpington (named Ginger). We separated it from the rest of the flock (with hardware window on both brooders) 3 days ago. When they are outdoors, we let it roam with the rest until it starts to peck others. It seems to be telling every chick that he is the boss here. Some bolder chicks would challenge it by jumping and standing tall, chest-to-chest kind of position or stare eye-to-eye with it. When Kreamy attacks, the feathers/fur around its neck puffed up. My kids and I thought we read somewhere that this is one sign of a cockerel. It is now 5 weeks old, can we accurately identify if it's a pullet or cockerel? Anyone has any advice. Thanks!
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