Black comet?? Tractor supply???

[leahcim823]

That's what I'm thinking but there strips are more random then the bared rocks I raised last year.

 

[leahcim823]

Bump!!

 

[IrishAcreFarm]

That's what I'm thinking but there strips are more random then the bared rocks I raised last year.

Hmmm they look like barred rocks to me too, but i think black star males are barred as well. Tough call!

 

[PrairieChickens]

Barred rocks, looks like the one in the front in the last photo is a boy, but all the others I could see look like girls.

 

[Wooten farm]

They look like barred rock or black sex links... tractor supply doesn't know what they or talking about and every time I've gotten pullets from there they've all been roosters

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

As has been said - the "black comet" thing is just a schtick name for black sex links. Were they labeled as pullets or as straight run. I know our TSC and Rural King get straight run on sex links and leave it to staff and/or customer to know how to differentiate since they are easily sexed by color/marking. The problem is that most of the time, because they are easily sexed, people take all the pullets first and you are left with a brooder full of roos - if staff is not as well informed as they should be and customers haven't done their reading ahead of time they are likely to end up buying a bunch of roos *thinking* they are getting either a 50/50 shot (due to the "straight run" labeling) or, worse, that they are buying all pullets.

This actually recently happened to us - I saw that RK had black sex links and was all excited until I realized that all that was left was the roos (these chicks had been in store for less than 24 hours and of 50 SR ordered over 30 had sold - all the pullets). Best part is, we STILL managed to end up with (at least temporarily) a BSL roo in our chicks because, as it turns out, someone had picked up and carried around one of the BSL and then set it back down in with the Wyandotte chicks. We had given our list of chicks and the employee had boxed them up and when I looked down there was that little BSL roo - employee had just been intent on catching chicks and hadn't noticed that one did not look like the rest. Fortunately, I noticed before we were *stuck* with the little guy. I mean, sure, with "pullets" sexed at the hatchery there is a 5% (give or take) chance of getting a roo - but that was a 100% chance and not what i wanted, lol.

 

[Dawns Funy Farm]

Our TSC in Chillicothe Ohio had a batch of straight run black sex links all were solid black ,no dots on head . am i right in assuming all were female if they were labeled correctly

 

[leahcim823]

They were marked "black comet pullets" but I went today and they had bared rocks in the bin, so I'm thinking that's what these guys are. (I'm hoping!!) the 2 darker ones are feathering out a lot slower then the others and seem to be smaller. I'm hoping there not roosters!

 

[PrairieChickens]

They were marked "black comet pullets" but I went today and they had bared rocks in the bin, so I'm thinking that's what these guys are. (I'm hoping!!) the 2 darker ones are feathering out a lot slower then the others and seem to be smaller. I'm hoping there not roosters!

With barred rocks, you can tell the boys from the girls pretty quick because the boys will have more white in their feathers. The difference is -very- apparent, and you'll know it if you see it. If the little ones are darker, they're most likely girls.

I borrowed this photo from http://www.lynchcreek.com/ and marked it to show the difference in male and female chicks.


Some people claim you can tell by the spot on the head--irregular spots are supposedly males and symmetrical, unbroken spots females, but I have yet to notice a correlation among my birds.

 

[leahcim823]

Oh goodness then I think I might have 4 boys and 2 girls!!