First time raising chicks. We drove to a nearby hatchery and picked out three day-old pullet chicks from the brooder marked Gold Sex Link and three three-day old RIRs. The RIRs showed a lot of variation in color and feathering even that early on, but the GSLs were basically identical. But over the past few weeks things have changed. As the Sesame Street song goes, one of these things is not like the other. The other two are still hard to tell apart. Take a look.
Two look basically like this:
and here is our oddball:
And here are all six together. You can see the three RIRs for reference.
What do you think? Is there that much variation in GSLs size, color and feathering at about 20 days old, or did I maybe end up with a late blooming cockerel or maybe just a genetic fluke? The hatchery does have an exchange guarantee, but I wasn't going to use it unless more than one of the RIRs turned out to be a roo. Any thoughts?
Two look basically like this:
and here is our oddball:
And here are all six together. You can see the three RIRs for reference.
What do you think? Is there that much variation in GSLs size, color and feathering at about 20 days old, or did I maybe end up with a late blooming cockerel or maybe just a genetic fluke? The hatchery does have an exchange guarantee, but I wasn't going to use it unless more than one of the RIRs turned out to be a roo. Any thoughts?
