i am predicting roosters from hens myself right now... deep breastplates, long legs, standing tall, leg fighting with others, jostling for highest position/outlook, fast growing dominant comb, the start of pointy tail feathers... versus, fluffy bottoms, shorter tails with rounded feathers, smaller combs, and general "hen" like behavior (less fighting or "on top" behavior)... they are all about 10 weeks now, hatched from eggs (and no, i didn't squish them when they were born to have a peek at their "bits")... i have thrown the paper airplane, and gotten some mixed results, but they mostly confirm my guesses...
I'm new-ish here, but here is my Black Copper. My husband named his Foghorn (even though I tried to tell him that a Leghorn is a white chicken haha). I love him. He's a big boy, and very friendly. Our first group of chickens that we bought turned out to be all roos with one hen, and he's the roo that we plan to keep. He's the one that leads everyone around, and the first to approach me when I have treats. He loves to talk to me. haha! He's the most docile out of the group also. When I pick him up he goes limp and doesn't fight me at all. I think he's already beautiful and I can't wait to see him as an adult. I was told he should be 8 weeks old, but that is up for debate.
I used to have 3 others, but two died on the way home and the hen that I had was taken by a hawk this week.
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He is 4 - 5 months old. They were hatched Jan 21. I think my son was involved with his getting injured...... but he isn't owning up to it.
I do not vaccinate for Mareks.
This is one of those three cockerels that I have been posting pics of on the 6 month BCM study.
The three brothers are kept together and he is the only one limping. There are no other signs of weakness.
He is not dragging the foot. He tries to put weight on it, but you can tell it really hurts.
Should I look for anything in particular to eliminate Mareks as a possibility?
Quote:
He is 4 - 5 months old. They were hatched Jan 21. I think my son was involved with his getting injured...... but he isn't owning up to it.
I do not vaccinate for Mareks.
This is one of those three cockerels that I have been posting pics of on the 6 month BCM study.
The three brothers are kept together and he is the only one limping. There are no other signs of weakness.
He is not dragging the foot. He tries to put weight on it, but you can tell it really hurts.
Should I look for anything in particular to eliminate Mareks as a possibility?
Mareks works in weird ways, even if they were vaccinated you still could have it show up in a small percentage. Sometimes it will just pick one bird out of a whole flock. They will not always drag a leg. Only time will tell.