Hello fellow CO chicken friends!
Opinion please. I'm supposed to have a hen but I'm pretty sure I just saw "her" trying to mount another. 17 week old Cochin. This chicken seems gianormous! But maybe cuz I have a bantum Cochin?
Thoughts on this pic?
Maybe this pic is better
I am pretty sure it is a pullet, no crowing and no male feathers growing. I posted her picture a few times on the breeds/gender forums and everyone has always thought pullet. She is also starting to crouch down when I go to pick her up. Do roosters do that? I was skeptical for a while but everyone said not to worry. I thought maybe the hatchery made a mistake and I had a black sex link roo. If I start to hear crowing then I will be very sad! I also wondered if she was a Speckeldy chicken (real breed btw) but she is just black and white and that breed is not common in the US. I should also note that she is the same size as the Brahma. The Partridge Rock has always been the smallest of the three.
I live in the city so no roosters for me (although I do hear one every now and then close by). I am also over the city limit by one.
Hey, cool! Thank you, Minchi!Right Click on 'quote' and select 'open in another tab'. That will open your response tab in another window and leave the page you are looking at alone.
Sorry about the leak, had that happen when I was in high school to my parents house, the toilet upstairs leaked and flooded both up stairs and down, up to 4 inches in the kitchen. The house leaned a bit. Mother got nice pink carpet for the house, everywhere but my room (ugh). Was funny to see her reaction since she also painted the walls a shade of pink before replacing the carpet. My poor brother, he was a mommas boy and paid dearly for it.
Well, if anyone ever comes out and counts your chickens and gives you a hard time, I'd happily pay you for your Maran. I am so bummed that of the two I ordered, I won't get any of those beautiful eggs. I guess I'll have to wait until next spring.
It depends on your reasons for wanting a rooster. If you mainly want a flock protector, enjoy hearing them crow, and don't need it to be one of the breeds you already have, I would look for one that is old enough to have shown he is gentle with people. That doesn't always mean one that has been handled a lot, in fact that's sometimes a bad thing, as they can be bolder with people than they should be. A rooster should lead his flock, but be submissive to humans.
As a general rule, getting a rooster from someone who breeds with a purpose, rather than a hatchery oops, is more likely to result in the temperament you want. Breeders usually won't tolerate bad temperaments in their males, they are too much trouble to manage and create chaos in the flock. Hatcheries just want fertile males with high production females. There are many hatchery males who turn out fine, but honestly, there are plenty of nicely bred roosters out there that have minor flaws when considering the Standard of Perfection who will make excellent flock members. I know Wendell (wsmith) will have extra Dominique males later in the year, I have extra Speckled Sussex cockerels and an extra Egyptian Fayoumi cockerel that I already know I won't be keeping, odds are Mayah (coloradogal) has extra males of varying breeds on hand she would be happy to part with, and though we are all a bit far for you, I mention us as examples of people with availability of nice males that are not much different in age from your girls.
If you specifically want a rooster that will sire chicks that are good egg layers, lay colored eggs, or are going to be better birds to process for eating, you can narrow your list by choosing breeds better suited to those purposes. You might just want something that's small and cute, or has feathered legs, or adds color to the flock, there are many possibilities for you.
It sounds like you are still in the hmmmm stage, so as you consider various aspects you can list breeds you may be interested in here in case anyone wants to weigh in with their own experiences and availability. You can even just say, if I want to achieve X, what are breeds that might help me do that?
We all love to talk chicken, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts on this topic
