Need help 4H project

[Phark]

Good morning everyone,

We helped a coworkers daughter with her 4H project. We were asked what breeds we wanted. We said Easter Eggers, Black Cooper Marans, or Barred Rock. We were told these two are Black Copper. They look nothing like our Black Coppers. So we have no idea what we got or even the sex of these chick. We know we have Cinnamon Queens and Shappire Gems in the photos. WE are focusing on the two darker ones with spots and bigger combs. I tried to get just them but the babies did not cooperate. They will be around 6 weeks old this coming Sunday June 26th.

The two we are trying to sex and find out the breed are best seen in photos 1 and 2 the rest are just different versions of the same 2 birds. So you can see different angles of them.

 

[WIchickMama]

Looks like one Barred Rock cockerel for sure. The one with the blk and brown feathering might be a mix breed or Easter Egger probably a cockerel

 

[Phark]

Looks like one Barred Rock cockerel for sure. The one with the blk and brown feathering might be a mix breed or Easter Egger probably a cockerel

I was hoping not to hear cockerels since we already have a handsome older Roo he is 4 months old now. Crue is a great Roo and does not mess with any of the 9 hens he was raised with.

We are wanting to merge the 6 and the 10 but it did not go well the first time so we are waiting for the little ones to get a little older than their current month old and try again.

Is it hard to merge more than one roo our flock will be 16 (3 Roos if we keep the two unknowns)? We dont want fighting as we dont currently have any of that in the two different sets…

I am also surprised that one is a barred rock since our first experience with a cockerel was Crue and he is so white compared to the new one which is more black like our female hen Georgia.

We were really getting the impressions both were cockerels - however the breed was the part we knew was wrong.

 

[WIchickMama]

could be a mixed Barred Rock which would make the barring differently shaped/spaced than previously seen or he could be a EE but I would lean more towards BR. BUT I am also not a breed expert

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

I think your first is a mix between Marans and Barred Rock. Other looks to be a Barred Rock. Others look to be Cinnamon Queens and Sapphire Gems. What class are you doing in 4-H? Not be disappointing but unless you're throwing them in the production class you most likely don't want to show any of these birds. All are mixes other than maybe the Barred Rock and it's not of show quality either. I was a big 4-H kid and won many best in classes, best in show in 4-H, best in show in open class, and best in showmanship so I am well-versed in small scale chicken showing. I highly recommend buying from a show breeder! If you try and show birds that aren't APA recognized, in 4-H class, they will be automatically disqualified or at least that's how my fair worked. One year I showed a few breeds who were quite rare at the time but since they weren't APA recognized they were automatically given C-ribbons. Your open class might be a better bet for these birds. In my case, these birds were judged more on condition rather than being close to the SOP. Let me know if you have any questions because I can likely help!!

 

[Phark]

I am not doing a 4H class my husband’s coworkers daughter was. I am not sure exactly what she had to do other than hatch from egg and raise to a certain age. That is when we got them given to us - she was given a few eggs and managed to hatch 3 - on was a 3 winged bird and it only lasted a little over a week then it passed away. We agreed to take the birds she hatched as long as they were not ducks. I dont think any of her duck eggs hatched. I am not sure how many eggs she got or where she got them from - why we are trying to determine breeds.

We bought most of our brood from tractor supply and our Black Coppers and 2 Easter Eggers are from a farm local to us. We knew we had Cinnamon Queens and Sapphire Gems in this group of 6 because when she only hatched 3 and 1 passing we knew it would be hard to introduce 2 to 10 so we went and got the CQ and SG so it would be 6 to 10 being introduced

The only two we are not sure about are the 2 we got from 4H project she had.

We are not showing our birds at any fairs. I am just learning this is my first time owning chickens but I am having a blast learning and love watching them. Hopping our first 10 will start laying soon we have raise all 10 from chicks since Feb. We were only wanting hens but looks like we might have 3 Roos in total in the mix. As long as we have no fighting with the 16 they will live happy lives. And as long as the we get no complaints about the Roos as they begin to do their natrual things that Roos do.

We have in our other 10 - 2 Black Copper Marans, 2 Easter Eggers, 2 Barred Rocks (1 hen and 1 roo), 2 Golden Commets, and 2 Rhode Island Reds. The 6 are 2 Shapphire Gems, 2 Cinnamon Queens and the 2 unknown breed and sex (but looking like cockerel).