- Apr 6, 2014
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Hi all, so after having two of my chicks die due to freak accidents (one trapped under a fallen heat panel of my Eco Glow brooder, another chick, which was my favorite, died due to a piece of string), I'm starting to think that my mottled cochin is a dude.
S/he stands more upright than my other chicks and is bigger than all of them (but I have two other chicks of different kinds, so size isn't the best way to judge here), and I started noticing reddening of the base of his/her comb and where his/her wattles would develop.
Also, when I put my hand into the brooder, and scratched the bedding around him/her, s/he attacked my hand by biting it (and twisting! ouch!) and kicking it hard. This has happened multiple times (and one of my chicks, an EE, has started to do this too! She does the death glare, before whipping her head forward for a bite). I can sorta tell when they are eyeballing my hand (and are deciding if they want to kill my hand) and can avoid confrontation by picking them up and carrying them around with me, or petting their back.
I hand tame my chicks and am very gentle around them. I offer them "treats" (chick feed + plain yogurt, eggs, mealworms, wheatgrass), and take them out everyday to play/pet/hold them. They know what my hand is (the provider) and I haven't been trying to scare or hurt them, so I don't know where this aggression is coming from!
Here are some photos:
(Is this a rooish carriage?)
Trying to show the redness of the base of his/her comb and the wattles
How can you tell if a chicken's head is angular (I've heard roos have more angular faces, at least in cochins)?
S/he stands more upright than my other chicks and is bigger than all of them (but I have two other chicks of different kinds, so size isn't the best way to judge here), and I started noticing reddening of the base of his/her comb and where his/her wattles would develop.
Also, when I put my hand into the brooder, and scratched the bedding around him/her, s/he attacked my hand by biting it (and twisting! ouch!) and kicking it hard. This has happened multiple times (and one of my chicks, an EE, has started to do this too! She does the death glare, before whipping her head forward for a bite). I can sorta tell when they are eyeballing my hand (and are deciding if they want to kill my hand) and can avoid confrontation by picking them up and carrying them around with me, or petting their back.
I hand tame my chicks and am very gentle around them. I offer them "treats" (chick feed + plain yogurt, eggs, mealworms, wheatgrass), and take them out everyday to play/pet/hold them. They know what my hand is (the provider) and I haven't been trying to scare or hurt them, so I don't know where this aggression is coming from!
Here are some photos:
(Is this a rooish carriage?)
Trying to show the redness of the base of his/her comb and the wattles
How can you tell if a chicken's head is angular (I've heard roos have more angular faces, at least in cochins)?
