Hmm. I feel there might have been a mix up at the feed store.

[missnu01]

We bought 10 Cornish Rocks, 5 Buff Orpingtons, and 4 Pekin ducks.
Then from a different TSC we bought 5 Leghorns, 2 asst. red pullets, and 2 mallards...
Then from a local guy I bought 4 EEs...

This was on the 6, 7, and 8.

Today I put the Pekins outside in the brooder box we made, and I moved the Cornish Rocks into the barrel bottom that the Pekins had been in...

I thought it would be easy to tell the difference between them because the Cornish Rocks are so much bigger...but I only ended up with 9 moved over...
So after counting, recounting, and then counting again there is one chick still in with the other chicks that we would have had to have gotten when we got the meat birds, because I counted them while putting them in the brooder, but as of today, one chick looks like it could easily be one of the leghorns. It is feathered the same, and is the same small size like the leghorns...but we bought the meat birds and leghorns from 2 different stores. There were no Leghorns at the place we got the meatbirds. So is it possible that one meatie chick is just a much slower grower, but a faster featherer? Or was there a small white chick put in with my meat birds? I was afraid that buying chicks at Tractor Supply would take all the mystery out of the process, but it seems I was wrong. Lol.

 

[missnu01]

Anyone?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Generally Leghorns are pretty slender and Cornish are little fatties. Its entirely possible one of your Cornish is a slow grower, or there was a mix up at the hatchery. Can you post a picture of a Cornish, Leghorn and the suspect chick together- side by side? That would help alot
Nikki

 

[missnu01]

The issue is that I have no idea which chick is the mix up...I got 10 cornish, and the Pekins, and 5 Buff Orpingtons
Then the next day from a different store I got 5 leghorns, 2 red pullets, and 2 mallards...

But yesterday when I went to move the meat birds, only 9 actually looked like meat birds. So now I have 6 chicks that look like leghorns, and only 9 that look like cornish. The cornish don't have their tails in like the leghorns do, but whatever chick is mixed looks just like the leghorns...let me go take some pics real quick.

 

[popsicle]

Pictures would help.
Is there any chance that there were two different age groups in the CXs?

I think you should be able to figure out which is a CX out of the leghorns by looking at the legs and activity level...?

 

[missnu01]

Here are the 5 leghorns, one chick that should have been cornish, and one of the cornish for comparison...I figured it would be easy because the cornish are 3x the size of the leghorns...but one is growing really slow, or there was a mix up...notice the one cornish doesn't have a tail yet, but all the other white chicks do...


and again from the front to show the size difference...and my puppy is super into sniffing all the chicks.
Notice the huge cornish but the small other white chicks are feathering in the same and all look to be basically the same size, except 2 of them are slightly smaller than the other 4... What a conundrum. The odd chick out might not be a leghorn, but it is something small and white like a leghorn.

 

[missnu01]

I mean the difference between the leghorns and CX is ridiculously obvious...but I just don't know how this happened, since the store we got the CX from didn't have any small white chicks...only Pekins, Buff Orps, and the CX...

And I know they gave me 10 because I counted them as i placed them in the brooder originally.

I should have 5 white leghorns, and 10 cornish, but I have what looks like 9 cornish, and 6 white leghorns...

The activity levels are just now starting to drop for the CX...and to pickup for the other group of non CX chicks. It has to be a mix up somewhere, or really bad breeding on the part of on cx.

 

[missnu01]

Any ideas, now that I have some pics up?

 

[popsicle]

I have no idea... good luck!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Ok, wow. If I were just going by that pic without any of the other info I would say you've got 6 WL there. That being said, if one of those is a CX, its not gonna hurt one bit if it stays with your Leghorns. If its that much smaller the Cornish may push it around or trample it.
When were you planning on butchering them, around 8 weeks? That should give you plenty of tine to figure out what you've got going on there. Its entirely possible there was a hatchery mix up, it happens all the time.....I honestly have no idea! If one of those is a CX, it may be the smallest ever!
Nikki