almost afraid to ask....cockerel or pullet?

[mom26kidz]

Bought these cute chicks at TSC (Ohio) from the Production Red pullets bin...now 5 weeks old & are lighter than when they were tiny (they were cute little yellow chicks when they came home - only 4 days old -- or so they said)! Please tell me it's just a phase and I don't have a bunch of up & coming roosters that I will have to re-home since I can't have them where I live. (not to mention the hubs will be PRETTY ticked I wasted time & $$$ on them....and I'm pretty attached to them too:-( My main concern is that I thought they were sex-linked, which I thought meant the girls would be red and boys white/yellow/lighter. Thanks all you chicken experts....this is my first dealing with chickens (and if it ends badly, I will be so sad....they get so excited when I come out to the garage and they let me hold them and a few have even fallen asleep while I was petting them....:-(

 

[Davea50501]

I got these from my local TSC. Were suppose to be red pullets. They turned out to be cornish x. This is at a little over 6 weeks old. Do yours seem to being growing right in front of your eyes?

 

[mom26kidz]

They ARE growing fast, but don't seem to have the wattle....I REALLY need them to be RED PRODUCTION HENS....I got them for eggs...there are 8 of us in the house and we go thru SO many, so my "logic" was that they'd be great for the kids to learn about animals (as if 5 dogs, a turtle, loads of fish and a lizard weren't enough!) AND they'd give us something useful....UGH!!!

I'm totally stupid about chickens, but are Cornish X like cornish hens? The little individual serving size chickens? They aren't layers then?

YIKES!!!!

 

[Davea50501]

LOL....we too got ours for eggs, pets, weed eaters and compost makers! If they are Cornish x I've been told they won't live much past 3 months before they have health problems. We love ours and couldn't think of eating them. I'm taking them to a local swap meet next Saturday to see if anyone wants them. We need layers as well. Someone told me the stress of their first egg laying could kill them. I'm a newbie as well so I'd definitely get a second opinion. They do look like my girls though. Cornish x is bred for fast growth for meat.

 

[RockerHen]

Cornish x are anything but small. They literally grow themselves to death, very quickly. HOWEVER, I think your chicks are white leghorns. Their legs and bodies look too petite to be cornish x. Leghorns are egg layers, some of the best around. I have 20 pullets growing out right now, actually (TSC, chicks weren't selling well so they discounted them to a quarter a piece so i bought the whole bin) and they look quite similar. I don't see anything about them that screams cockerel. Leghorn males get their combs in VERY quickly.

 

[Davea50501]

That would be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was hoping I'd hear someone say leghorn! Could mine be leghorns? Thanks Rockerhen, you've just made our day!! Fingers crossed!

 

[keesmom]

That would be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was hoping I'd hear someone say leghorn! Could mine be leghorns? Thanks Rockerhen, you've just made our day!! Fingers crossed!

The OPs birds look to be Leghorns. Sorry to say the one you posted looks to be a Cornish X cockerel.

 

[Davea50501]

Bummer. The three I have haven't tried to crow as of yet. Maybe they are still hens.

 

[mom26kidz]

Thank you RockerHen & Keesmom....I hope you're right! Sorry, Davea.....I think we both learned maybe we should take a chicken expert with us to TSC or go to a hatchery? lol! Best of luck to you! My kids have been bugging me to post about this, but I've literally been afraid to ask!

Now I'll have to read up on white leghorns!

 

[RockerHen]

The OPs birds look to be Leghorns. Sorry to say the one you posted looks to be a Cornish X cockerel.

Yes, sorry, I was referring to the OP's birds. Yours does appear to be cornish X unfortunately I've dealt with that heartbreak before. My first two LF birds were Cornish x, I bought them unknowingly. Such sweet birds though, for the time I had with them.