How old are these babies?

[ninafe]

Hi guys! First time chicken owner here and I'm loving this website!! I bought four Rhode Island Red hens from Tractor Supply 5 days ago and when I asked the store employee who helped me pick out the chicks how old they were, he said they were about a week old. So here I am thinking my chicks are about two weeks old. However I was browsing google and based on the pics I saw I feel like my chicks are too small for being two weeks old. Here is a picture of my biggest chick among the group and the whole group. Can you estimate how old they are? Thank you!

 

[The-White-Elephant]

Hi guys! First time chicken owner here and I'm loving this website!! I bought four Rhode Island Red hens from Tractor Supply 5 days ago and when I asked the store employee who helped me pick out the chicks how old they were, he said they were about a week old. So here I am thinking my chicks are about two weeks old. However I was browsing google and based on the pics I saw I feel like my chicks are too small for being two weeks old. Here is a picture of my biggest chick among the group and the whole group. Can you estimate how old they are? Thank you!
View attachment 3043469View attachment 3043470

They are adorable!

I would say 1.5-2 weeks old

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Based on how my chicks have feathered out in the past, I would say they're in the vicinity of 7-10 days old now. I imagine they were just under a week old when you got them. That said, knowing their exact age isn't super important when the difference might only be a few days at most.

You should be aware, however, that those are not Rhode Island Reds. They appear to be a red sexlink of some sort, so they could be Red Stars, Golden Comets, ISA Browns, etc. They should lay you a lot of eggs in their first two years, but may run into ailments of the reproductive tract after that, so just be aware of that possibility if you intend to let them live out their entire natural lives versus processing them for the freezer after a year or two.

 

[ninafe]

Based on how my chicks have feathered out in the past, I would say they're in the vicinity of 7-10 days old now. I imagine they were just under a week old when you got them. That said, knowing their exact age isn't super important when the difference might only be a few days at most.

You should be aware, however, that those are not Rhode Island Reds. They appear to be a red sexlink of some sort, so they could be Red Stars, Golden Comets, ISA Browns, etc. They should lay you a lot of eggs in their first two years, but may run into ailments of the reproductive tract after that, so just be aware of that possibility if you intend to let them live out their entire natural lives versus processing them for the freezer after a year or two.

Say whaaaaaaat??? I told the store employee I wanted RIR and he picked them up and even talked a little about how he has a few of those himself. Well that's... interesting. I took a pic of the bucket that they were picked out from and on the lables it says "RIR, leghorn, ancona and golden laced waydotte". Do they fit in the profile of any of the other three kinds?

 

[NatJ]

I took a pic of the bucket that they were picked out from and on the lables it says "RIR, leghorn, ancona and golden laced waydotte". Do they fit in the profile of any of the other three kinds?

They are not any breed on that list.

The color is wrong for all of them:
RIR-- red with black feathers, red chicks (no white)
Leghorn-- usually yellow chick/white feathers
Ancona-- black & white feathers, black & yellow down
Golden Laced Wyandotte-- gold and black feathers, chicks black with some brown/yellow

I agree with @pipdzipdnreadytogo that you have red sexlinks (which can be sold under many different names, but all grow up to be similar to each other.) They can be nice chickens, but they are not Rhode Island Reds (although they often have a RIR father.)

Rhode Island Reds grow up to be mostly dark red, with a few black feathers in their wings and tail, and no white anywhere. Your chicks have white where RIR would have black.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's unfortunately very common for Tractor Supply chicks to be put in the wrong bin, or for employees to not know what they're looking at when it comes to the chicks they supply (though it sounds like the employee you spoke with at least had some base chicken knowledge, better than most!). NatJ described why your chicks can't be any of those breeds, because the colors are all wrong. The white wing feathers from reddish chicks are a dead giveaway for red sexlink chicks.

 

[ninafe]

Rhode Island Reds grow up to be mostly dark red, with a few black feathers in their wings and tail, and no white anywhere. Your chicks have white where RIR would have black.

I see I see... My gosh. I can see now that raising chicken isn't without drama!! Thanks for your detailed analysis! I plan to raise them as pets so ultimately it doesn't matter what kind they are. So now instead of watching youtube videos on RIR I need to switch to red sexlink....

 

[Sc_chickengirl]

I see I see... My gosh. I can see now that raising chicken isn't without drama!! Thanks for your detailed analysis! I plan to raise them as pets so ultimately it doesn't matter what kind they are. So now instead of watching youtube videos on RIR I need to switch to red sexlink....

For me chicken owning and selling and making sure roosters can't mix is very very dramatic.

 

[ninafe]

It's unfortunately very common for Tractor Supply chicks to be put in the wrong bin, or for employees to not know what they're looking at when it comes to the chicks they supply (though it sounds like the employee you spoke with at least had some base chicken knowledge, better than most!). NatJ described why your chicks can't be any of those breeds, because the colors are all wrong. The white wing feathers from reddish chicks are a dead giveaway for red sexlink chicks.

That is hilarious that my first time buying a chicken turns out to be the wrong kind... Now my only hope is that they are still hens... Thanks for your help!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

That's one of the benefits to sexlinks is that you can be sure which chicks are males and which are females as soon as they've hatched. With red sexlinks, females are reddish and males are yellow. Since all four of yours are reddish, they're all definitely females!