Just a bit of a rant about buying sexed Chicks!

[HeatherLynn]

What the heck is going on with these chicks. Ok last year was my bad year so maybe that is coloring my view of this. Last year I bought 12 barred rocks and americaunas. Was told he ordered pullets. 100% males every last one of them. I also ordered what I thought were golden comets. Not sure what happened there but I let them free load for a year before finding someone else who thought they could convince them to act hen like.

Ok so this year instead of going to the little farms and buying chicks I went to the feed store. I want pullets. yes yes yes its not 100% but still already half are looking to maybe be roosters. I am pretty sure on the barred rocks and there is one bigger one that I got at the same time that already has a bit of a pink comb forming. The other one like him who is the same size has NOTHING. So out of 8 pullets ( thats what they were labeled) half ended up being roosters. Sigh It doesn't kill me to tell the husband to arrange D day and freezer space for them but its frustrating and a bit disheartening. Maybe I should just be ordering these things from the hatcheries myself and having them mailed. I fear that option but maybe I would have better luck.

What about all those who spend that bit extra to get a female they can keep only to find out its a rooster later on. There really can only be so many pet roosters honestly.

bah chick sexing

 

[DaughterOfEve]

you might consider buying sex link breeds chicks like isa brown girls are born yellow, boys are white. Some breeds are marked or colored differently at birth.

 

[speckledhen]

Where did that feed store get the chicks, Heather? Usually, they buy from hatcheries who should have a better sexing record than that. If they just bought locally, well, I've seen way too many folks who think they can sex chicks by some ridiculous old wives' tale method. Wonder if Joe Blow Feed Store Employee sexed them.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
I have a friend who purchase red sex links and every last one (correctly coloured for a female red sex link) was a rooster. The cross has to be done correctly, and in her case, it obviously was not.

Find out which hatchery the feed stores are purchasing from. My guess is that they may be purchasing from the same sources you previously used. Order sexed chicks of whatever non-bantam breed you prefer from a larger, reputable hatchery.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
The Golden Comets she got ARE sex-linked. It just sounds like someone sold her all the boys....

Heather, if I were you, I'd spend a little time looking at photos of chicks that can be determined early and then try looking for the girls yourself. At my local TSC, they had several batches of pullets and several batches of straight run. But because I knew how to tell the difference between boys and girls, I was able to get four chicks, of which three I am certain are girls and the fourth I suspect is a girl (Black Sex Link (paid the straight run price but knew for a fact it was a girl when I chose her), GLW (the only way I am slightly uncertain of), Speckled Sussex and Cornish Rock (on this one I didn't care if boy or girl since I plan to process in a few weeks anyway, but ended up with a girl).

Barred Rocks and sex links (Red Star, Black Star, Golden Comet, Isa Brown) can be determined by coloration at hatch. As long as YOU know how to tell the difference between boys and girls, you can purchase the girls without concern.

 

[chickaddict]

I ordered 15 chicks from a hatchery this year. They are 5 weeks old now and I am positive 1 is a rooster and suspect 4 others.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sometimes less familiar sellers can really pull the wool over a new persons eye. Like selling "sexlinks" but never specifying that the "sexlinks" in the bin are boys or girls. Technically a sexlink can be a boy or a girl, so you'd want to make sure you'd be getting "sexlink pullets"... I've seen bins of straight run sexlinks and people picking out the pure white chicks and black chicks with white dots on their heads.

Just a thought.

 

[jossanne]

I'm sorry you've had terrible luck getting sexed pullets. I'd find out which hatchery they get chicks from, and not order from that hatchery...

I've had excellent luck buying sexed chicks from McMurray and Ideal. Out of 26 chicks in my last order of rainbow layers from McMurray, I ended up with one silver-spangled hamburg roo. A couple of years before that, I ordered 25 rainbow layers and 12 buff orps from McMurray, and ended up with one EE roo and one black minorca roo, besides the 8 packing peanut cockerels.

From Ideal, I've mainly ordered bantams and cornish rock, but the laying pullets I've ordered were ALL pullets. I've got 7 welsummers and 4 EE's all sexed correctly from Ideal. The bantam cochins that I ordered were un-sexed, and I got 5 pullets out of 10 chicks.

I will do business with Ideal from now on, only because of the $25 minimum instead of 25-chick minimum that most of the other hatcheries have. I'm very happy with Ideal, and have an order of bantams set to hatch there May 19. I will recommend them to everyone.

 

[Tala]

Keep ye a solid color roo (RIR, NHR, BO, ...) and cross him with yer Barred Rock ladies and hatch YER OWN sexlinks. LOL you'll still get roosters, but at least you'll know which are which.

 

[speckledhen]

Tala's right. Making your own sexlinks is a piece of cake. And it doesn't have to be a RIR x BR, either. As long as the hen is barred and the male is solid colored, instant sexlink. Actually, I hatched sexlinks from a Silver Phoenix rooster over BR hens. Males looked like ghosty-barred BR pullets and the female was solid black. The males fooled me because the Phoenix wasn't supposed to be in the mix, LOL. Thought I had some BR pullets till the combs turned pink at three weeks old and the tails were extra long.