Cockadoodledoo

[MickWithChicks]

Hi guys,

We're new to chicken keeping and have 6 x 8 week old chicks. My wife is a kindergarten teacher and had 13 eggs brought in for the class, all of which hatched.

We ended up taking 6. 3 x Black Australorps, and 3 x ISA Browns; all at 3 weeks. Unfortunately, we didn't know that ISA's were sex-linked and ended up with 2 cockerels and 1 pullet. It looks like we may have hit the same ratio with our Australorps: 2 cockerels and 1 pullet, for a total of 4 cockerels and 2 pullets.

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#1 is an Australorp with a large pink comb and big red wattles. He's the smallest of the bunch (even smaller than the pullets), and very quick to run away. He doesn't rear up and fight like the other boys, and is very submissive to all of the other 5. He's friendly enough to humans, but doesn't like being handled (even when he was a week or so old).

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#2 and #3 are ISA Browns. We've named the pullet Gingerbread, but we're hesitant to name the cockerel as we won't be keeping all 4 of them. Gingerbread is a sweetheart and loves people. She's calmest of them all. The cockerel and his brother (#4) are the first to your feet when you walk through the pen gate.

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#4 and best mates with his brother, #2. They both like to roost up here and chase eachother around the coup. They play fight at the moment and nothing seems serious, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

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#5 is a bit of an unknown. It's beginning to get fairly prominent pink comb and wattles, but the tail feathers and the way it walks/behaves is the same as our pullets. This one could be a pullet, but we're leaning toward cockerel and hoping for pullet. The speckled brown on the chest is indicative of a non-pure Australorp, but these were sold as Australorps. Any opinions?

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#6 is a pullet. Unnamed as yet, here she is next to #5. Her comb is smallest of all, and she's very docile and friendly.

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Here they all are wanting to eat my feet.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Have you considered starting a rooster flock for the extra cockerels? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-flocks.1174877/

 

[drumstick diva]

You can post photos of your birds (with age at time of photo) at "what breed or gender is this," and get them sorted out for you.

 

[MickWithChicks]

Have you considered starting a rooster flock for the extra cockerels? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-flocks.1174877/

Yes! Actually. I was reading through a rooster bachelor pad thread here (or somewhere else) a week or so ago. I'm in the process of sourcing some materials (galv pipe, tin sheets, hardwood etc) to start building out a nice long chicken run and another coup, with a gate mid-way between the chicken run. That way I can keep everything separate.

We'll be going to the local monthly market mid-August to see if anyone is looking for 12 week cockerels for breeding purposes, and if not, we'll have ourselves a bachelor pad.

You can post photos of your birds (with age at time of photo) at "what breed or gender is this," and get them sorted out for you.

I plan on doing so, but figured I'd introduce our chickens in my introductory thread first as I'd only be posting two of the Australorps for gender identification.

 

[Birdinhand]

you may not have as many roosters as you think. you have several different types and they may be maturing at different rates. red comb and wattle can be a hen. one looks like a black sex link with red on it's chest and my understanding is that that's likely a hen, the roosters have black chests. I'd give it some time and post individual pics. hens also get "cocky" with each other, raising their hackles, when establishing their pecking order. as they become more mature, clearer signs will emerge as well. i'm no sexing expert but there are lots of great judges on this forum so posting on one of the many sexting threads should help you get it sorted... you will know for sure when they start to experiment with crowing.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC

Here's the link to gender forum -
http://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this

 

[MickWithChicks]

Thanks for the info everyone!

I'll definitely post in the gender forum with individual pics of all of them. As these are the only pictures I have, so I don't have all the angles together for accurate sexing. Having read through the "Picture Guidelines", I'll make sure I have all the appropriate angles in order first. Being in Australia, it still gets dark before I finish work at the moment, so I'll wait until the weekend.

Here's a pic of their pen and coup that I put together for them a few of weeks ago. Plenty of ventilation, a large nesting box with removable lid (back left, ground level), an upper deck and rabbit hutch with a ladder to climb up.

Unfortunately I dug the back right hole slightly too far to the left and didn't feel like re-digging, so she's a bit wonky (but at least it adds character ). There's a gate on each side too, so I'll be able to build a run to the right and let them in and out.

 

[Kiki]

Hi there!
Welcome to BYC.
This video should help you find your way around the site better, enjoy!