Hen or not?? And breed help if possible

[Pele]

Thank you so much for your help. I was assured that all 4 had been checked and were definitely hens! Oh dear

. Now to start a new thread for advice on keeping cockerels with children!

The best advice on this subject is not to do it. Cockerels are chock full of testosterone, and children are small and easy targets for dominance displays and attacking. You don't need a cockerel for eggs, and it doesn't sound like you need one for breeding. Just get two more hens and swap out the males.

Viola, a happy and healthy flock for the kiddies to love on

 

[donrae]

I'm glad the cockerals are gone. Here's hoping you get two more pullets to round out your flock! Just remember, if you get baby goldlines, get the gold/red ones............

 

[SarahP85]

Thanks Donrae, I did indeed get 2 more goldlines (from a different breeder but I knew what I was looking for this time

).
My 2 new hens are the same age as mine and almost identical. The only difference is my original 2 have yellow legs and the new girls have white legs!?

 

[cluckadoddledoo]

They look like white star hens Sarah, they had quite a lot just like her where we picked up ours from.

The brown ones are likely to be Lohmans.

There are quite a few adverts for breeders of these two breeds in the Norfolk area that sell both along with the other popular egg laying/table birds.

 

[donrae]

Thanks Donrae, I did indeed get 2 more goldlines (from a different breeder but I knew what I was looking for this time

).
My 2 new hens are the same age as mine and almost identical. The only difference is my original 2 have yellow legs and the new girls have white legs!?

They could have just been a different breed used to make the cross. In the States several crosses are used to make a high production sex link layer and there are differences in body color/shade, amount of white, comb type, leg color, etc. But they're all bred to be great layers on not much food and are usually quite docile.
Glad your little chicken family is doing well!