HELP! Breed and Sex?

[puirasville]

We are newbies and bought 3 1-month-old chicks.. We don't know what breed they are and we are unsure of sex. Can anyone help us out? A friend said you can tell by feed size and comb size but feet and comb seems to be the same size for all 3... though one is quite a bit darker and also has black feathers coming in at the tail where as the others don't.. I will post pictures. Hoping that we have 3 hens. My 3 year old son named them Peggy, Dolly and... Dinosaur. lol

 

[Michael OShay]

The front two with the white underfluff and tails are Red Sex Link pullets. The back one is a Production Red pullet. All of them are excellent layers and the Red Sex Links are egg laying machines. You are going to get loads of large, brown eggs. )

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The front two with the white underfluff and tails are Red Sex Link pullets. The back one is a Production Red pullet. All of them are excellent layers and the Red Sex Links are egg laying machines. You are going to get loads of large, brown eggs. )

X 2
How long have you had the birds? Only ask as you reference buying them at 1 month old, but they do look older than that in this picture.

 

[Wyandottes7]

The front two with the white underfluff and tails are Red Sex Link pullets. The back one is a Production Red pullet. All of them are excellent layers and the Red Sex Links are egg laying machines. You are going to get loads of large, brown eggs. )

I agree.

 

[BantamLover21]

The front two with the white underfluff and tails are Red Sex Link pullets. The back one is a Production Red pullet. All of them are excellent layers and the Red Sex Links are egg laying machines. You are going to get loads of large, brown eggs. )

x3

 

[puirasville]

You guys are awesome. I love this community! Thanks for your help. I could kiss you. It's been a mystery and we've spent the last few months wondering in horror if we have to part with any of our new friends.

The guy who sold them said they were hatched July 7th. They were a month old when we got them, based on that they will be just over 3 months now-- do they look about that size in the pics?

To be honest, the guy who sold them to us was so sketchy. He advertised meat birds and layers and speaking to him on the phone we thought he was a farmer as he kept referring to "the farm life" as an excuse for his not being able to arrange a pickup for the birds on the days we were available. We eventually showed up to a bunch of smaller birds with feathers and fluff all in one big drive shed. There was no "farm" to be seen and the guy was dressed head-to-toe in brand new nike clothes. He wouldn't say what he did for a living other than that he lies to rap and he also didn't know how to tell the sexes apart as this was his first time dealing in chickens... He also didn't help us catch them. lol I know what you're thinking -- we should have walked away.. But we had our 3 year old with us who was told we were getting chickens that day so we sucked it up and payed the $15/bird which I feel was maybe overpriced since it was a gamble as to what we were getting.. But we couldn't find any other birds in our area that were ready and we didnt want to wait for the next batch to be ready right before winter. To his credit, they looked healthy and the shed they were kept in was extremely clean and had fresh water and food so we shrugged and bit the bullet.

 

[puirasville]

so needless to say, your replies make us feel better about our purchase. lol

 

[HighStreetCoop]

First time chicken dealer, huh? That is one strange story, LOL!

 

[puirasville]

Update: All three hens started laying over the last two weeks. This is a picture of some of the eggs (minus 5 not pictured because we baked with them)

The two on the far right had triple yokes when we cracked them open today for breakfast! Is triple yoke common?

 

[donrae]

Congratulations on the eggs!

Sex links especially can lay double or triple yolkers when they're just starting to lay. They're bred to be such high production birds their systems can get confused

. but even when they lay regular eggs, my sex links are hand's down the largest eggs, usually too big to fit in the carton.