I can't pick a pullet to save my life.

[Nichole77]

This is so frustrating. With my first 55 chicks I got 1 roo. Ok i get 90% accuracy. So I rehomed him. SO then a few month ago I find some youngsters but not chicks that were so cute and I could bypass the brooder stage. And they both end up being roos. Even though they were sold to me as pullets. So someone gives me a great pullet but she's all alone. I made a mistake and she is now in a hospital pen. But I want to get her a buddy. I figure that while she's healing the newbie can be in quarantine. So I check out a new store. And they have some old easter chicks. But she says they are all roos. The nubs where spurs will be are visible and the combs are bigger. But one is different. No nubs and a smaller comb and the back of the comb has some differences. So we are thinking female. So I post a pic on the forum and I hear roo. I even checked pet finder. No one here is giving up any females any time soon. Thanks for listening.

 

[lilcountry]

Yeah I bought 3 chicks from a man that said 70% of his hens were having hens and I only picked 3..and I got 2 pullets and a roo, not too bad, but I just got some chicks from a feed store and 90%accuracy rate says they are suppose to be pullets so I will see...hopefully. But good luck!

 

[rebecca10782]

what are spurs?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
You ever watch a kid sharpen a twig on concrete, so it's a miniature spear? Well, roosters naturally grow these on their legs, it's a weapon for fighting.

All breeds that I know of get them. Sometimes hens can have them. There is a breed called the Sumatra where the males get more than one spur on each leg.

Most people keep them trimmed, so the roosters can't use them on people. Without trimming some can get pretty big.

Sometimes as young birds you can see spur bumps, where the spurs are starting to grow. Like buds on a goat where the horns would grow.

Someone may have a better definition. If you google it, I'm sure you'll get tons of pictures.

-Kim

 

[DTchickens]

First image. Stole from google. second image. is from Slipspurbantams.com Which raises Gamefowl. and Old english game bantams. also has articles of how to Trim a roosters spurs. Dub the comb/wattle/Earlobes if you need to (you have to if you show old english games and many other games..) and also has some interesting tips on how to Build some pens. http://usera.imagecave.com/Dwarslayer/images.jpg http://usera.imagecave.com/Dwarslayer/images2.jpg

Hope this helps..

 

[coopist]

I often see beginners posting about spurs or spur nubs. Please understand that development of this characteristic is not a good method of sexing chicks. Spurs are a very late-developing characteristic, too late to be of any real use in sexing. And both male and female chicks have about the same looking area where the spurs would come in. The things to look for in young birds are: comb development and color, wattles, ankle thickness (males generally have thicker ankles), and head angularity (young males have a slightly more angular head shape than young females). All of these signs are fairly subtle and anyone can be fooled, but they can help. Another thing to keep in mind is that there are different kinds of combs: single, rose, pea, walnut, etc. Some come in faster and redder than others. If you compare a single comb bird to a pea comb bird, you are comparing apples and oranges. You'll be fooled. So it's a good idea to make sure that you know how to identify combs before you start trying to tell the gender. Hope this helps.