How old are they?

[rechena]

Quote:
We were thinking of placing the heat lamp inside the coop, will they know by this age when to return to the heating of the coop? or do we have to grab them and placed them inside?

 

[Nicole01]

Don't lose hope yet, they could be hens. Congrats on your new flock.

They are very pretty.

 

[Judy]

First, our temps are quite similar to yours, right now at least, and mine are in the coop with a heat lamp only at night -- and they are ONE week old. They were grouping well away from the heat in early morning when it was still cool out there. Chickens are good about moving toward or away from a heat lamp if they have the space. They'll be fine in the coop with heat, and won't need the heat much longer, if they do now.

Lots of people lock chickens in a coop when first put there so they will learn where to go at night, for 2 or 3 days, or for a week, but that's when they are old enough not to need heat. I think with the heat in there, they will be more likely to go in on their own. I'd give them the freedom and just check on them after dark, and hope they go in on their own.

And I agree, they might turn out to be hens yet.

Good luck!

 

[rechena]

Thanks for the excellent help. We will be moving our hens to the coop between today and the end of the week

We will post some more info later on. About the hens vs Roos thing, we will have to wait

Thanks once again.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
There are some behaviors that can be clues, particularly things like chest bumping each other, but truth is, all chickens will do these things sometimes. Hens can even grow spurs (when older,) make a sort of crowing sound and even, especially if there is no rooster, climb on other hens' backs as if mating.

It would be great if you put Portugal in your profile -- we love knowing folks from other countries are on here! And your English is too good to tell by that.

 

[Judy]

We were posting together.

By the way, good job on that coop!

 

[rechena]

At what age does the spurs could, or not start to appear?
Thanks

 

[rechena]

Quote:
Hehe thanks

It still needs the run and some minor details.

I think I've defined the country in my profile, I will check

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
After you've already figured out for sure that it's a hen....

 

[eggmanfromafghanistan]

as with everything, it varies breed to breed. but they will have bumps for a while. They probably won't start growing significantly until he is around 8+ months I would say