Help! I can no longer Keep Silent!

[Javamama]

I'm thinking white leghorn, and I'm not sure about the sex. But TSC employees are notoriously ignorant about what they sell. (not all of the employees, just alot)
Edit to add, you might want to get a few more pics and put them in the "what breed/gender is this" section

 

[Wateredgarden11]

Oh heavens everyone..ty for quick responses. I have terrible suspicion that those are meat birds and I think that means we have to make some quick decisions. By the way in the making of this coop and run..my husband has ended up in ER twice. Today he has the second round of stitches removed. How I am gonna tell him..I just dont know..lol I better go read up on how to deal with meat birds. I think they have feeding issues I need to learn about..and the thought of now having to "harvest" my husbands...lol " girls" heehee is not gonna make his day.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

I do love your coop...and the paintings are very neat....
WI and OH aren't that far apart....should come up here and make me a coop like that...lol

as for the birds....they look like my little colored chicks..(they were colored from the hatchery for easter)....

don't know what to tell ya, maybe your husband will be ok with it if he gets replacement birds first...
if the hatcherys are sold out, maybe someone local would have birds/chicks to sell...

 

[SunAngel]

I got White Leghorns and Amberlinks at TSC, both are feathering in all white. I don't think ours even got any meat chicks.

Mine aren't quite that old, but I would bet he got pullets and they are one of those two breeds.

Hope your hubby can stay happy with his chickies and they aren't meaties!

 

[georgialee]

I'm sorry your chicks aren't what you (or your DH thought).

Have you looked into mypetchicken.com? They let you order as few as 3 depending on your location. If your husband can't bring himself to process them you could post an ad on craigslist and I'm sure someone would take them off your hands pretty quickly!

eta: I was just thinking about it and I don't think TSC usually carries meat birds?!? Farm stores (like the local ones) will, but not usually TSC. There may still be hope that they're leghorns. If they are they'll be great egg producers assuming they're not all cockerels.

 

[SunAngel]

Quote:
Haha men! My hubby ended up in the ER the day he started working on the interior of the coop. He came inside saying, honey, I need a bandaid. Was running his hand under water in the kitchen sink and wouldn't let me see. I made him let go of his other hand and discovered he had this huge gash in the fatty part of his hand below the thumb. He ended up with 7 stitches and couldn't work on my coop for 10 days lol.

Hope your hubby is healing!

 

[SunAngel]

I thought meaties were slow to feather in and their feathers didn't look very full? That pic looks like s/he is fully feathered and fluffy and not overly fat for being so feathered. I have never had meat chickens though, so I could be wrong.

 

[jnjross]

nope not sexlink , even sexlink males have some red on wings. looks female

 

[JeffroDull]

From http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/95/sexing-chicks-in-the-backyard-flock

"In nearly all breeds of chickens (Sebrights being the exception) the young males’ feathers will also change from the round oval-shaped feathers common to hens and young birds to the shiny, more narrow and pointed feathers found on their necks and at the base of their tails."

I saw this method demonstrated on one of the River Cottage series in the UK. The presenter showed the difference on the neck feathers while he separated the meaties from the mommas

. The difference from the round to the pointed was quite dramatic and seemed easy to spot.

 

[greenpeeps]

Same thing going on here. I tried for years to get chickens and finally did this easter. I absolutly adore all my chicks but I fear half are roos and the other half are hens. we also purchased ours at Tractor Supply -
If the image doesn't show you can see my chicks on my page. I'm computer slow