Hints for picking a chick?

[BroodyMama]

Greetings, y'all!

I'm so excited to have found BackYardChickens! I've been lurking for a while, and finally decided to register seeing as we're going to get our girls tomorrow! (One RIR, one Silver-Laced Wyandotte, one Australorp, all nearly four weeks old.)

My question is this...
I'd like to get one more, and the seller has a mix of chicks. She knows the breeds on some, like the ones listed above, but not for all. Given a choice, I'd love to get a Barred Rock or a Buff Orpington. She's not sure that she can identify them. (I suspect she gets large numbers from a hatchery, raises them for the first few weeks, then sells them at a substantial profit.)

I've been perusing the 'net, looking for pics of 4-week-old chicks, but am not at all convinced that I could identify them with certainty. Any hints or other thoughts about this at all? Hope to post a pic when they arrive home!

-Sharon in VT

 

[greenthumb89]

im not the best at this but from what other people have said look at the color of the feathers and look at the feet. a buff orpington will be buff and have white legs i believe. and a barred rock should be blakc and white barred with yellow legs

 

[Chirpy]

Welcome to BYC! Congrats on getting your new chicks.

Try http://feathersite.com/ to see some great pictures of chicks... hopefully it will help you.

 

[chickiepoo]

Welcome to BYC!
yeah, I would memorize the main characteristics including the ones greenthumb mentioned, and also the comb. And look at as many pictures as you can find of what you are in the market for.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
I would for SURE get one of each , barred rock and orpington...

I love the orpington's and can not seem to find any that are NOT older than 1 week old . I want older pullets/hens . DO NOT want the trouble of raising babies anymore . I am only interested in egg production...

I have 4 barred rocks , 10 austrolorps , RIR's and bantams .

When they are smaller until laying age , you have to go thru several types of feed until laying age . UNREAL .

 

[greenthumb89]

they should both have single combs

 

[cajunlizz]

SCROLL and they will show you picks of the buff orpingtons from week to week .


http://www.poultrypatch.com/bufforpingtons.htm

 

[luvzmybabz]

I will upload a few pictures my buff roo was the easiest to tell so far when looking for a pullet at 4 weeks no visible comb and face should be skin tone no bit of red at all. The first pic is of my roo. He was only a week old

he was a gorgeous roo but the a roo fight did him in. First pic baby buff

pic of buff roo at 3 weeks notice his comb the little spikes are starting to show

pic of buff pullet at 7 weeks notice no comb or wattles and color of face

 

[BroodyMama]

Wow... thank you for all of the advice and the links to pics. The orpington pics were especially helpful. I'll see if I can find something similar for the plymouth rocks.

We go today after I pick up my kids from preschool. I'll let you know what we wind up with!!

-Sharon

 

[speckledhen]

Be sure you quarantine those chicks away from yours for a month, though, to be reasonably sure they do not have a disease that your chicks could catch.