Changing out cockerel for a pullet

[gator75]

Id really like 3 pullets to add to my two hens. Got what I was told are three chicks all said to be pullet. The barred rock is starting to give me pause. They are two weeks old. Question is, if he is a he at what point is too late to switch him out without making the new one an outcast? Will they bond just fine as long as they aren't full grown hens?

I'd love to have a roo, but am not allowed. So if it is a boy, it will have to go regardless.

Thx

 

[gator75]

Thanks for the info. Won't add another. Will just rehome the bird if it is a cockerel.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I would say that you could swap chicks in and out all through the raising process. I have never had a problem with it in my experience. I usually do a rolling hatch, and I am putting new chicks in every day or so and they do not mind. Moving younger ones into the next box with the older ones.... never had an issue. Chicks are not nearly as well developed mentally, as older birds.... very malleable. (IMO). I should add that as soon as they are feathered I toss them in with the adult birds. There they have to learn to stay out of the way, but they are chicks and they are built for that. They assimilate right in with the adult birds. There is nothing more natural to a flock of chickens, than having some babies of various ages running around under foot. Sometimes one of my adult hens will take an interest in them and she will train them to obey chicken commands.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

2 weeks is probably too young to tell sex reliably even in barred rocks. Post a picture at around 5-8 weeks.

You cannot generally just switch one out after the first week or two without seeing some pecking. The older they get the worse it will be. Chicks generally know who belongs after those first few weeks and will peck and harass those they don't know.