Do Mama hens kick out the boys earlier than girls?

[Currawong Farm]

I have a Blue Australorp hen that has been raising 5 babies, the first of which hatched on Christmas Day, so they are all between 9 & 10 weeks old now (Mar 2024). The father of all was a Blue Australorp rooster but the babies aren't all hers - I think 2 are, 3 were eggs from either a Rhode Island Red hen or RIR/Leghorn cross. I was fairly confident that 3 of the chicks are hens and one is a rooster, but wasn't sure about the 5th. In the last day or so, the Mama has suddenly started aggressively chasing away the one that I was certain was a rooster, but is happy to let the others gather around. The poor little boy is NOT allowed near the rest of the group or Mama goes for him. Can I assume from this that the one I wasn't certain about is a girl, otherwise she would be getting kicked out with the other boy?

Here is a breakdown of the chicks and why I think (guess) they are what they are: 1 x classic Blue Australorp colouring, looks like the spitting image of her mother, no sign of tail feathers growing yet. I am assuming this is pure Blue Australorp and is a hen. 1 x black chick with iridescent purple/green feathers, starting to grow tail feathers. This is the boy and I am figuring another pure Blue Australorp as the Blues can still throw Black, when "pure" bred. 1 x white chick with a few black spots, no tail feathers. I am assuming hen with Blue Australorp father and RIR/Leghorn cross mother. The last two are both a very light soft grey with slightly darker heads, no tail feathers. One is significantly larger than all the other chicks and is the one I was doubtful about, mostly due to its size. I had it pegged as a rooster until recently when the black started sprouting tail feathers and the light grey didn't. I am now wondering if the Mama hen's behaviour is diagnostic of this just being a big girl - thoughts?

PS: Should I move the boy in with my other two hens (kept separately), or just mix the whole flock back together? I have just realised (from reading other threads on this forum) that all the chicks are big enough to merge the flocks now.

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm surprised she's still got any of those chicks with her at that age. My silkie moms reject them at around 6-8 weeks.

They may be a bit too young to safely integrate with the adults though, but you could try it and see. If not, it shouldn't be long.

 

[Currawong Farm]

I'm surprised she's still got any of those chicks with her at that age. My silkie moms reject them at around 6-8 weeks.

They may be a bit too young to safely integrate with the adults though, but you could try it and see. If not, it shouldn't be long.

Well Mum & babies have been in a separate coop (about 4m x 4m) from when Mum was brooding, so they couldn't really get far away from each other. I didn't realise, until googling for answers to my original question, that 9 weeks was unusually long to keep them together.

 

[Debbie292d]

Well Mum & babies have been in a separate coop (about 4m x 4m) from when Mum was brooding, so they couldn't really get far away from each other. I didn't realise, until googling for answers to my original question, that 9 weeks was unusually long to keep them together.

Oh, okay. That explains why then as I thought it seemed rather long.

 

[NatJ]

The poor little boy is NOT allowed near the rest of the group or Mama goes for him. Can I assume from this that the one I wasn't certain about is a girl, otherwise she would be getting kicked out with the other boy?

I do not think it is safe to assume that. If they are both boys, she might be kicking out the more mature one first because of his behavior.

You could post photos and see if anyone here can help identify them. 9 weeks is old enough to tell with most chicks (but of course there are always a few puzzling ones that keep everyone guessing for months. Luckily those are relatively rare.)

 

[Currawong Farm]

I do not think it is safe to assume that. If they are both boys, she might be kicking out the more mature one first because of his behavior.

You could post photos and see if anyone here can help identify them. 9 weeks is old enough to tell with most chicks (but of course there are always a few puzzling ones that keep everyone guessing for months. Luckily those are relatively rare.)

I'll try to get some photos tonight when I get home. I am still iffy about the big girl/boy - I think there could be the start of tail feathers now, but the mama has quite a big tail for a hen, so it could be just that.

 

[NatJ]

I'll try to get some photos tonight when I get home. I am still iffy about the big girl/boy - I think there could be the start of tail feathers now, but the mama has quite a big tail for a hen, so it could be just that.

At 9-10 weeks, tail feathers are not usually helpful for sexing chicks.

The comb & wattles are usually the first sign, then later (often around 12 weeks) the males start growing obvious saddle feathers (they grow from the middle of the back, skinny and pointy, and as they get longer they hang down on both sides, a bit in front of the tail).

They usually wait a bit longer before the males get the big showy tail feathers.

Of course all those ages are approximate, because some males start earlier and some wait much longer (someone was recently posting photos of a 9 month male Brahma, yes months not weeks in that case, that still wasn't very obvious!)

 

[PoppasGrill]

We usually, on 4 clutches, start introducing chicks to the rest of the flock at 6-7 weeks, depending on the size of the chicks.
Momma , on 2 clutches, starting not wanting to share food and basically wanted out of isolation and to hang with the other girls. Guess like human moms, can only watch so much Mickey’s Clubhouse before starting to get cabin fever.

 

[Currawong Farm]

This is Mum with the 5 chicks. The "iffy" one is bottom right - note how much larger she/he is than the others.

 

[Currawong Farm]

This is the one I am certain is a boy. He's actually the 4th smallest of the 5, but his colouring, stance, beginning tail feathers and comb development says "boy" to me.