Need help please, what do you think my bantam BR is????

[xBRIANx]

It's sad to think we'll "lose" out last Barred Rock, as we can't keep any roosters here in town. We'll keep Otis as long as we can, fingers crossed all the while, and look for a new home for (it?) if that time comes. Here's a picture of Otis with Jennifer that is kinda cute:

I'm pretty disappointed with the chicks we received from My Pet Chicken at the moment. Out of the 4 supposedly female Barred Rock Bantams we ordered, we got 3 doomed runts and (depending on how this works out) a rooster. I'm not saying MPC is to blame, we were probably just unlucky.

Our 4 EE Bantams are doing quite well, which makes me wonder if BR Bantams are more delicate. Any opinions on this?

At the outset, I was moderately ambivalent about getting chickens; mostly getting them because Jennifer really wanted them and I thought the kids would enjoy chickens. As we've had them, I've been heavily involved and have come to love them very much. This has been such an emotional roller coaster for me; staying up all night feeding the sick ones, sticking my little buddy Steve in a homemade gas chamber, painting little headstones and digging holes, but still having a great time holding them and watching them run around.

I hadn't realized how delicate chicks are. I thought "8 chicks, 8 chickens", like getting little cats or dogs, I hadn't considered the possibility that we'd loose multiple chicks. While I accept death as a natural part of life and that sexing baby chicks isn't totally accurate, I'm a pretty sentimental guy, so at times the chicken experience has been pretty hard for me.

Anyway, thanks for all of your input.

 

[speckledhen]

Jennifer, I'd say you probably have a pullet. The girls' headspots are usually small, however, I have a three and a half year old BR hen who had a huge, splotchy headspot, almost no sooty color on her leg fronts and is still as light as her sons are. Sexing is an art, even with the BR traits we usually associate with either sex. So, on occasion, they can fool you. I think once the wings feather out, you'll know with more certainty. The down looks very dark in those pictures, so I'm thinking girl at this point. Hey, I've been fooled before...by my own Zane, if you remember him. I called him Zoe for weeks due to his coloring not being clearly male or female.

 

[speckledhen]

Let me show you what I'm talking about with the rule-breakers. The following is a picture of Lexie, then in the second picture, Lexie is on the left and Ivy on the right. Lexie had lots of folks fooled for weeks and weeks, so it goes to show that even if you use the rules, they can let you down in about 10% of the cases.

 

[Eureka Jennifer]

Thank you, after losing 3 in a row, going through the all nighters to keep them alive and still losing them we may be holding on a little too tight to Otis, she is very special. I think you are right the best thing to do is wait and see how she feathers in and what her comb looks like and just enjoy her and the other girls and love them up good. The picture of Lexie is encouraging, she is really beautiful. I really appreciate your time.

 

[speckledhen]

Sure. Just thought a picture of Lexie would help you see that it's not always so clear with the BRs. Lexie is over three years old and the mother of many chicks. She's still my lightest BR hen-here she is below. Let us see this chick in a couple of weeks.

 

[Eureka Jennifer]

I am checking in again, hopefully with girl as the answer. Well Otis looks like a girl to me now. Her ashy leggs have gotten darker and cover more of her toes and her coloring seems like a girl now ~ hope you all agree... (really I hope speckledhen agrees) Have a Beautiful Day.