How do I tell the difference between a fryer and a pullet. Egg Laying?

[starck5]

What if the place where the feed mill orders the chickens from gave me fryer chicks instead of laying pullets. How can I tell the difference.

 

[Wildsky]

I don't have experience with fryers - but they would grow very fast I think....
give it a few weeks and post pic's to confirm the breed.

 

[jdr250]

Well, I'm new at this, but I have 3 meat chicks and one leghorn. For the first three days they looked almost exactly alike. But then you will notice the meat chickens get huge very quickly. By day 4 they were almost double the width of the leghorn. Now at week 3 there is no question they are enormous and they spend most of their time eating (they actually sleep with their heads in the food) and pooping. You will know.

 

[Davaroo]

"...and they spend most of their time eating (they actually sleep with their heads in the food) and pooping."
Some lovely imagery, right there.

 

[jdr250]

Sorry it does sound funny now that I read it again LOL, but it is the truth. They are complete gluttons.

 

[starck5]

Sounds like I got a broiler. The eat a lot. They actually lay down when the eat and drink. I think it is cuz the are to big for their little legs.

They are 3 wks now and double to triple the size of the brown and black chicks. DANG IT<

 

[Shaun Hagan]

The yellow chicks you have look a lot like my Cornish X chicks. Probably Broilers. Have a nice chicken dinner in 8 weeks!

 

[mmajw]

Looks like you have broilers there. 8 weeks til BBQ. In a few weeks you will want to seperate them the broilers get messy and require more cleaning out.

 

[SeaChick]

Did you specify layers? If so, and you don't want to deal with them, I would take them back to the feed store and see if they have any more layer chicks you can swap with. What a bummer.....

 

[MissPrissy]

A fryer is just a small chicken - usually an unwanted male that is processed young to be very tender when 'fried'.

Looking at your photo it seems you got something along the lines of a cornish x rock - a nice meat bird if you are inclined to process them at about 8 weeks.

They do eat like a powerhouse. They also can die very easily with very little warning. When they are two weeks old separate the big boys out and feed them on a schedule. they will eat everything in sight leaving very little for others and canliterally eat themselves to death.

I took the food away form mine at night and only let the meat birds have water at night.