Brooke Carson
In the Brooder
They are all Swedish Flower Hens, probably hatched on June 12 or 13. (We ordered them as day old chicks and they arrived on the 14th).
We were told the red one (#5) was a boy when he arrived, but he's the wimpiest one in the flock and has never exhibited any dominant behaviors at all so I sometimes doubt because we had 6 more of them that a Great Horned Owl got and there were 2 in that group that were much more dominant and would rush to see things and run to get between the others and the doors or alert them to the planes flying over or whatever. But when we lost them a month or so ago and this one never stepped up to take their place. But I don't know. This is our first year raising chickens so I'm still learning all the things.
If I was going on behavior alone, #3 or #4 are the head hens/rooster??? but they don't have the personalities of the ones we lost that we were told were boys so I don't know for sure. At the time we lost them, the only ones with combs were the ones we thought were boys and this red one has been the slowest one to get his(?) comb...if that matters for guessing genders. I know there's special neck feathers and "saddle feathers" but I don't know how to recognize that stuff yet.
We were told the red one (#5) was a boy when he arrived, but he's the wimpiest one in the flock and has never exhibited any dominant behaviors at all so I sometimes doubt because we had 6 more of them that a Great Horned Owl got and there were 2 in that group that were much more dominant and would rush to see things and run to get between the others and the doors or alert them to the planes flying over or whatever. But when we lost them a month or so ago and this one never stepped up to take their place. But I don't know. This is our first year raising chickens so I'm still learning all the things.
If I was going on behavior alone, #3 or #4 are the head hens/rooster??? but they don't have the personalities of the ones we lost that we were told were boys so I don't know for sure. At the time we lost them, the only ones with combs were the ones we thought were boys and this red one has been the slowest one to get his(?) comb...if that matters for guessing genders. I know there's special neck feathers and "saddle feathers" but I don't know how to recognize that stuff yet.
