My babies at 5 weeks

[speckledhen]

I agree with Adam. I think Ruby is a Speckled Sussex. He looks in that pic like the six cockerels I hatched several months ago, lots of white on them till they developed their patterning.

 

[smnytx]

Those legs are a lot darker than my BR's legs... granted, my chick is a couple weeks younger than yours, but all her new feathers have some white on them.

 

[Nugget]

Opus has become nearly black as a raven. Definately no BR!
Here she is at 6 weeks

While we're at it, here's a good one of Ruby

and a 6 week one of Molasses

It's nerve wracking watching wattles and hoping they don't grow too fast

 

[SeaChick]

Regarding Opus, here is a photo of our Australorp, Olympia, at about 5 weeks:

Here she is at about 19 weeks:

She is just GORGEOUS now with irredescent feathers and large, expressive, cinnamon-colored eyes.....

and as a baby:

also, I hate to say it, but I think (in my seriously limited experience!) that the first 3 are roos. Our SLWs comb is STILL smaller than theirs, and she is 21 weeks old!

Best,
Stacey

 

[Corey NC]

Opus is a Black Jersey Giant, astrulorps have more white as chicks and giants are pure black from the start. Ruby is for sure a Speckled Sussex Cockerel (Believe me I know -sigh-) and Molasses is for sure a boy.

 

[Nugget]

When Opus was a day old her back was black but her belly and neck were white. That faded when her feathers came in.

Molasses looks like another boy? How are those odds even possible! 6 out of 7??

 

[Corey NC]

Yep that is a Jersey giant, did they come from a hatchery? You probably got what was left after all the orders were met and since most people order pullets you got mostly roos.

 

[Nugget]

I got them from a local farmer who produces them on a rather small scale. He doesn't sex them. He put the eggs of the breeds I asked for in his incubator. Only half of them hatched (he felt the electrical storm affected the eggs). I guess the ones that didn't hatch were the females!

I know the farmer had australorps on his farm, I didn't hear of any Jerseys but it's possible. How big does a Jersey Giant grow?

 

[edster951]

Quote:
I thought chicken little was a roo, but now she is laying and broody....

Count count on it yet, they may still be pullets. Chicken little had signs of wattles at an early age.

Eddie

 

[pattycake]

Quote:
My Jersey Giants has some white as chicks. That said, Opus does look identical to my Jersey Giants. But I have heard that they 're pretty impossible to tell apart until the Jerseys keep growing to an enormous size.