golden laced sebright bantam

[Nay117]

Got this golden laced sebright bantam 3 weeks ago at local tractor supply so he/she may be close to 4 weeks? I have a feeling it's a roo... super friendly .. knows "he's" cute .. single comb and more pink colored than my silver laced one with rose comb. I can try to get more recent pictures of her if needed shes just my shy girl. Thoughts? Thanks everyone!

 

[23kthistlethwaite]

Probably a roo with that comb but I’m not the most knowledgeable on that breed

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Looks like a cockerel.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Cockerel.

 

[Sammi_0411]

Cockerel gorgeous little fella

 

[Painted Calls]

Cockerel.

 

[britesidefarm]

Little cockerel

 

[Nay117]

thanks everyone! does anyone have advice on what to do now that I'm pretty confident he is a cockerel? If he is 3 1/2 -4 weeks with a single comb is there a chance he could still be a pullet? When will I know for certain? We planned on just getting laying hens .. our town does allow roosters but we live very close to multiple neighbors so doubt they will appreciate him. My boyfriend says to get rid of him now so I dont grow even more attached.. but i already am attached and i couldnt imagine eating him .. plus the thought of eating fertilized eggs kind of weirds me out (though i have read about it being fine just making sure to collect the eggs everyday). I dont want him to be just killed and if we do "rehome" I'd want him to have a happy life and fear he will miss all his chick friends he is with now. Sorry if I sound stupid .. this is my first experience with chickens and they are my little pets plus I work at a vet so I feel that every animal does have feelings and I want to do right by him.

 

[bellium]

I understand your feelings about dealing with your cockerel - I am a vet tech, and a few years ago ended up with 3 cockerels out of 6 chicks I raised - I can’t keep them where I’m at and it was difficult for me to try to wrap my head around culling a perfectly healthy living thing because of its sex. As soon as I felt confident I had cockerels (two started trying to crow and one just screamed “BOY” with his red comb and wattles), I started asking around and placed some ads on Craigslist. I had to accept the fact that they would likely go someplace where they’d be someone’s dinner (not sure if bantams suffer the same fate, mine were standard size). Happily for me and my boys, my 7 year old son found a home for two of my guys, who were an uncommon breed, with a friend of his bus driver, and my last cockerel, a Jersey Giant, got picked up by someone who drove two states over to get him after answering my ad on Craigslist - they had just lost their JG roo and were missing him terribly. Had they gone to “eating“ homes, I would have been sad, but at the end of the day, I eat chicken so I don’t feel I can be too hypocritical about it, and they’d have been far more likely to have a humane death than if I tried to do it myself with no experience.

 

[britesidefarm]

thanks everyone! does anyone have advice on what to do now that I'm pretty confident he is a cockerel? If he is 3 1/2 -4 weeks with a single comb is there a chance he could still be a pullet? When will I know for certain? We planned on just getting laying hens .. our town does allow roosters but we live very close to multiple neighbors so doubt they will appreciate him. My boyfriend says to get rid of him now so I dont grow even more attached.. but i already am attached and i couldnt imagine eating him .. plus the thought of eating fertilized eggs kind of weirds me out (though i have read about it being fine just making sure to collect the eggs everyday). I dont want him to be just killed and if we do "rehome" I'd want him to have a happy life and fear he will miss all his chick friends he is with now. Sorry if I sound stupid .. this is my first experience with chickens and they are my little pets plus I work at a vet so I feel that every animal does have feelings and I want to do right by him.

I hatched 11 Sebrights exactly one year ago today, and 9 ended up being cockerels. I was able to keep one, but found people online who wanted the others as cockerels for their own hens. I suggest doing the same for your guy, or seeing if anybody in your state thread on here (if you live in USA), or finding somebody on Craigslist who would be a good home for your guy. At 3-4 weeks, that is 100% a boy. If you want to keep him, you can always create a small bachelor pad away from your pullets/hens with another bantam cockerel to keep him company so you won’t have to deal with fertilized eggs.