Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[GregnLety]

I have never seen a cardinal nest. That is super cool!

I watched her build it for a few days. Lety claimed I was being lazy but I countered with I'm merely observant, lol

 

[BY Bob]

I watched her build it for a few days. Lety claimed I was being lazy but I countered with I'm merely observant, lol

I spend hours watching the bluebirds, nest and raise their young. It is not being lazy it is observing the world around us.

 

[rural mouse]

I spend hours watching the bluebirds, nest and raise their young. It is not being lazy it is observing the world around us.

 

[GregnLety]

I spend hours watching the bluebirds, nest and raise their young. It is not being lazy it is observing the world around us.

I love cardinals and I watched her bring in tiny pieces of the nest one piece at a time. I need to ask Lety for an update. There should be eggs or maybe even babies by now.

 

[BeastBaby]

Both are 6 weeks old right?
Ok, now that I know I am looking at the Marans here are my thoughts.
Copper coloring. These are Black Copper Marans, we do not fear copper markings coming in on their head and neck at this age. Pullets with full copper hackles and the boys will start having it appear around now.
The old wives tales of fast feathering and tail growth also do not work with Marans unless they have been specifically bred to show fast feathering. In truth, the majority of them have not so throw that out the window.
We are also going to not be worried right now with the size of both their combs. Neither one are bright red, and frankly 90% of your males will have bright red combs and wattles at 5 to 6 weeks of age, these do not. Remember, Marans hens have nice size combs and wattles as adults so they will be a little bit larger then some of your other breeds.
Marans are also a slightly heavier breed with both hens and roosters having large feet and they show that early. They will be larger and a bit stockier then your other chicks, it is a good thing.
Both chicks appear to have a bit of mossiness in their feathering, It happens during their juvenile molts about 50% of the time and they loose it around 5ish months. Where we do not want to see that bright red copper color coming in is along their back and shoulders. Neither one have it yet from what I can see.
Marans are friendly in general so a friendly chick is normal. Also pullets can be the top dogs. My hen Corona, she was one of a group of 8. She was also the only pullet with 7 brothers. If I went on behavior alone I would have called her a boy. She beat up on all her brothers and was the dominate chick of her clutch.
Right now from those pictures, I am leaning pullets.

Oh man lucky me to have found someone so knowledgeable
Thanks for all those tidbits of information! They are making me feel hopeful. Meanwhile my mind is furiously trying to prove that they are cockerels, so that I not end up disappointed haha.

The second BCM, in fact the one with the white chest in the previous post, is slooooow feathering (which I now know is a moot point). It’s also very lanky, skittish of me, and difficult to handle. Perhaps just a bit spicy lol. I would say it occasionally assumes a cockerel stance, but has the same pale comb as BCM #1.

 

[BeastBaby]

My lay opinion having had both a boy and a girl BCM. My boy had a much larger and redder comb and waddle at this age. It was plain as day and absolutely undeniable. I am leaning pullets.

For comparisons sake:
My chicks arrived August 4th 2022, they were approximately 3 days old at this time.
Oreo (Roo) on the left and Brownie (pullet) on the right taken on August 20th (notice the straighter and thicker comb the difference in the thickness of the legs)
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These two pictures were taken at the end of their 5th week with us on Sept 10th at this point the difference was undeniable.
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Holy moly!! Haha that cockerel is probably what Butch (a chick that came with this batch) would have looked like at that age if he were still around. That’s an astounding difference.
By what week could I stop worrying about “late bloomers”? Now?

 

[BeastBaby]

Oreo's comb is huge!

At evening chores today I looked at my pullets and cockerels. 5 confirmed pullets, seven confirmed cockerels, the rest I'm not sure about. Some of them look like pullets to me but maybe not...?

How old are they all?

 

[knoturavggrl]

How old are they all?

That last photo was taken when he was almost 6 weeks. Now they are 2. Brownie is the queen of my flock now and a very good leader.

Oreo sadly had to be rehomed, he was so mean once the hormones kicked in. I still miss him he was a beautiful boy. I will dig up a photo of him fully grown in the morning.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Holy moly!! Haha that cockerel is probably what Butch (a chick that came with this batch) would have looked like at that age if he were still around. That’s an astounding difference.
By what week could I stop worrying about “late bloomers”? Now?

I am confident in saying between 8 to 9 weeks we will know for sure pullet or cockerel. What we are waiting on is their next juvenile molt. Even if he has a small no color comb or wattles a cockerel cannot hide himself after this. His rooster coloring or copper markings will come in on his back and shoulders. I will go through my old pictures later this evening to show you what you should be watching out for. When these markings appear, they appear fast.

 

[RoyalChick]

I like that idea too! It would commemorate women in the aviation industry.

That’s how I came up with Eli originally. She was a stunt aviator in the 20s.