I’ve got two suspicious looking 15 week old birds here and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
These birds were raised by a hen, I am not sure what breeds they are mixed with. I got them at 12 weeks and they are now nearly 16 weeks. There has been no fighting or crowing but they are both at the top of the pecking order.
This first bird here, I call him Tusk.
I’ve been acknowledging him as a cockerel since a couple days after I got him.
He’s very brave, was the first to accept meal worms from my hand, and allowed me to pet his little beard and face. He also stares into my eyes. He’s quite soulful.
Tusk is very quiet, calm, and is the top ranking bird out of 6. His legs are super long, his neck is super long, his feathers are long, but not shiny. His comb is small, and not the typical three row cockerel pea comb I’m familiar with.
I’m hoping by some grand miracle he’s just a very stretched out pullet because I don’t want to rehome him, he’s such a nice bird.
In this photo he is standing next a very obvious pullet, her legs are like toothpicks so by contrast his look enormous (they kind of are though…)
Next bird is Brontë. I really thought this bird was a pullet but then suddenly I’m seeing a lot of tail feathers happening that the other obvious pullets do not have.
Their feet are a little on the large size, but I have another feather footed pullet with the same size legs.
The pea comb is not so large but a little wide, and their face is getting red.
They are second in the pecking order, but very docile at the same time.
Brontë, please be a pullet.
I have also isolated this bird because they developed a horrible feather eating habit… plucking the feathers from the other birds and eating them obsessively. They are not aggressive about it, just very persistent. I’ve never encountered this before in my flock.
Here’s some pictures of Brontë.
Thanks for reading and please share your thoughts!
These birds were raised by a hen, I am not sure what breeds they are mixed with. I got them at 12 weeks and they are now nearly 16 weeks. There has been no fighting or crowing but they are both at the top of the pecking order.
This first bird here, I call him Tusk.
I’ve been acknowledging him as a cockerel since a couple days after I got him.
He’s very brave, was the first to accept meal worms from my hand, and allowed me to pet his little beard and face. He also stares into my eyes. He’s quite soulful.
Tusk is very quiet, calm, and is the top ranking bird out of 6. His legs are super long, his neck is super long, his feathers are long, but not shiny. His comb is small, and not the typical three row cockerel pea comb I’m familiar with.
I’m hoping by some grand miracle he’s just a very stretched out pullet because I don’t want to rehome him, he’s such a nice bird.
In this photo he is standing next a very obvious pullet, her legs are like toothpicks so by contrast his look enormous (they kind of are though…)
Next bird is Brontë. I really thought this bird was a pullet but then suddenly I’m seeing a lot of tail feathers happening that the other obvious pullets do not have.
Their feet are a little on the large size, but I have another feather footed pullet with the same size legs.
The pea comb is not so large but a little wide, and their face is getting red.
They are second in the pecking order, but very docile at the same time.
Brontë, please be a pullet.
I have also isolated this bird because they developed a horrible feather eating habit… plucking the feathers from the other birds and eating them obsessively. They are not aggressive about it, just very persistent. I’ve never encountered this before in my flock.
Here’s some pictures of Brontë.
Thanks for reading and please share your thoughts!
