it has occured to me that there is a possibility of roos in my flock

[phishinchicken]

i bought 6 chicks 2 weeks ago and after reading through some old threads it seems that there could be males in there by mistake. i can't have a roo in my yard. my neighbors would flip. is there someway to find out by looking at them?

 

[gritsar]

Depending on the breed, the secondary sex characteristics start to show themselves at 4 to 6 weeks.
Post some pics then and we can try and help you out.

 

[cackle]

Post pictures in the section =What Breed or gender is this. If they are only two weeks old it could still be hard to tell.

I bought 25 chick from a hatchery that were all suppose to be pullets. Well a couple were more aggressive and out of the 25 -3 ended up being roos.

Good luck I hope they are pullets so you don't have to re-home any.

Susan

 

[NotTheMomma]

Well, if you were my neighbor, I'd offer to buy them fom you. We wanted at least one roo for keeping, and a few for the freezer. Word got to the feed store before we did, and it appears the roos all avoided coming home with me! My oldest group are either going on 6 or 7 wks old. None so far look like roos, and my Dad didn't see any roos. He raised chickens for 45 yrs, so we'll see if he's right!

Oh, we live on 10.5 acres in the county, so roosters can live with me!

 

[Attack Chicken]

Let them out to play and if you see them start chest bumping you got yourself some roos lol. Mine started chest bumping at just 2 weeks old.

 

[Stonerowfarm]

Well - now you have me worried

I have sex-link hens and there are a couple who definitely chest bump, jump on each other's heads, play "red rover"......

 

[CTChickenMom]

I have all pullets and they all do the chest bumping thing. Its how they decide seniority. I wouldn't worry yet.

 

[gritsar]

Both male and female chicks feet fight and chest bump. It's how they work on setting up the pecking order.

 

[warmfuzzies]

Stonerowfarm, if you have sexlinks, i think that is just proof that pullets will chest bump! You should know 100% they are pullets or cockeral, shouldnt you?

 

[phishinchicken]

ok so i guess i need to wait a couple more weeks to tell. i will post pics at that time. thanks for your help.