Need help with breed

They look like baby fluffy penguins to me. Two of the black and white ones have black beaks and bigger nostrils. Would that mean a different breed or even different sex?
Possibly, and yes, my black australorp looked EXACTLY like a penguin That's how she got the name penguin
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My RIR (really Production Reds as RIR are a heritage breed we wont be finding at any feed store) are both only pecky and bossy with other chickens. They are fine with all people. They are not as cuddly or social as my Brahama or Orps but are easy enough to catch and carry and they eat nicely out of hands and take treats carefully (as opposed to my Brahma that will drill a hole through your hand or take a finger off to get a treat) Pics provided are to show chick, juvenille and adult to give you an idea if they are the same breed.
The top pick is identical to my mary and rose. They have that red spot on their beak (one is more red (rose) while the other is a brownish-red (mary)). The feathers on the wings match as well. So far they are very gentle. In fact those two and Daisy (white one) are the most docile out of the group. Daisy will come up to and get in your hand.
 
Well, I will try not to jinx you by telling you that is exactly how the bird in the top 3 pictures behaved, and ended up being a rooster lol. The hens are almost as easy with people as he was though. The hen in the last picture has been nursed back from the brink of death a few times as she is an internal layer and is very patient with all my fussing over her. The 2 I had laid like gangbusters for the first year, an average of 5.5 eggs a week. But now at 2+ years neither lay (other than the one that lays internally enough to make my life difficult). But they are good flock leaders with the established birds. The problem is introducing new chicks....this last year it took weeks and weeks before the Reds didn't want to killl the newbies, long after the Orps irritation with them had worn off.
 
Well, I will try not to jinx you by telling you that is exactly how the bird in the top 3 pictures behaved, and ended up being a rooster lol. The hens are almost as easy with people as he was though. The hen in the last picture has been nursed back from the brink of death a few times as she is an internal layer and is very patient with all my fussing over her. The 2 I had laid like gangbusters for the first year, an average of 5.5 eggs a week. But now at 2+ years neither lay (other than the one that lays internally enough to make my life difficult). But they are good flock leaders with the established birds. The problem is introducing new chicks....this last year it took weeks and weeks before the Reds didn't want to killl the newbies, long after the Orps irritation with them had worn off. 

What does internal layer mean?
 
ah, a long drawn explanation if done right but condensed version.... the eggs are released into the digestive tract instead of the reproductive tract where they can cause infection as they are just protein to feed bacteria that grows. Hopefully you never experience it but the signs are lethargic hen/ bright yellow runny poop, swollen spongy abdomen. It s usually preceded by some soft shelled or no shelled eggs (not to be confused with the first eggs of a new layer that are sometimes not quite right at first) no reason for you to stress about it past the fact that it is fairly common in Production Reds. It can kill a hen fast so it is a good idea to watch your hens a little each day to be able to detect changes in them quickly. For mine that is known to have this problem I daily pick her up to palpate her abdomen to check for any perceptible swelling to tackle any infection brewing. No worries if they are laying regularly and perky and happy and looking for food and water actively.
 
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ah, a long drawn explanation if done right but condensed version.... the eggs are released into the digestive tract instead of the reproductive tract where they can cause infection as they are just protein to feed bacteria that grows. Hopefully you never experience it but the signs are lethargic hen/ bright yellow runny poop, swollen spongy abdomen. It s usually preceded by some soft shelled or no shelled eggs (not to be confused with the first eggs of a new layer that are sometimes not quite right at first) no reason for you to stress about it past the fact that it is  fairly common in Production Reds. It can kill a hen fast so it is a good idea to watch your hens a little each day to be able to detect changes in them quickly. For mine that is known to have this problem I daily pick her up to palpate her abdomen to check for any perceptible swelling to tackle any infection brewing. No worries if they are laying regularly and perky and happy and looking for food and water actively. 

Silly question.... when do hens usually start to lay? Are they all different in timing? What do you do about an internal layer?
 
No questions are silly. Most breeds start laying at approximately 20 weeks. Large breeds like Brahma a tad later.
Most people just cull an internal layer as it can be an ongoing issue and is tough on the hen. Personally with mine, I check her abdomen each day for swelling. If I feel a tiny bit at all I watch her till she poops, if she poops yellow or liquidy poop (or if I see a mess below her vent that indicates that has been going on) or if I decide to give it one more day to see if swelling gets more pronounced....if so... I start her on a broad spectrum antibiotic found in the cattle section of the feed store that is also geared for poultry. I mix a little up each day and force feed it to her (humanely, her and I have an understanding, I am able to hook a tiny cup under her top beak and spill a splash into her beak over and over for just a safe drink many times over) and I soak or float things in the antibiotic water like meal worms and boiled egg so that she gets a bit more as she eats. The first time I just isolated her and it was her only water source since she was sick as sick could be without dying but now I catch it early and think her appetite stays better if I leave her with the flock and she eats with the competition. I get as much antibiotic water down her as I can in 10 days. The 2 subsequent times it has happened after the first went well. her appetite goes down due to the antibiotic so I still try to entice her to eat when I am medicating her with extra treats like chick food soaked in antibiotic water, blueberries as well. Usually her abdomen continues to swell and she gets more sedate and lethargic for a couple more days until the antibiotic starts to do its job (as well as her own immune system being able to help because I catch it when she is still pretty healthy) then about the 4th and 5th day she is pretty swollen still but not getting any worse and then usually by the 6th day her tummy starts to go down, and by the 8th day she is fighting me to not take any more of the water but we persist for the full 10. Then she goes for a few more days with a decreased appetite because the antibiotic is tough on her tummy but I feed her yogurt to help restore the good bacteria to her stomach and usually about 3 days later she is eating like a champ and packing on weight again. I am hoping she will just soon be out of eggs to try to lay and will live out her days healthy again. Her flockmate that is the exact same age and breed lays an egg about every 10 weeks or so, usually not a strong shell and it breaks right away so whatever it is that is wrong is probably a problem with the breed from this hatchery but that few of eggs tells me they will hopefully just be done laying soon. An occasional internal lay may go unnoticed as many times it is just absorbed into their system with no issue but if they build up that is when the problem can happen. My chickens are pets mostly meant to fertilize my garden and give eggs secondarily so they live till they die naturally or are in too much pain to be humanely kept alive. If this was something that happened continuously I may have a different approach with her but since the majority of her time is spent as a happy chicken and a small percentage is spent being what I perceive as simply an upset tummy with maybe some tenderness I just monitor and treat her.
 
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No questions are silly. Most breeds start laying at approximately 20 weeks. Large breeds like Brahma a tad later.
Most people just cull an internal layer as it can be an ongoing issue and is tough on the hen. Personally with mine, I check her abdomen each day for swelling. If I feel a tiny bit at all I watch her till she poops, if she poops yellow or liquidy poop (or if I see a mess below her vent that indicates that has been going on) or if I decide to give it one more day to see if swelling gets more pronounced....if so... I start her on a broad spectrum antibiotic found in the cattle section of the feed store that is also geared for poultry. I mix a little up each day and force feed it to her (humanely, her and I have an understanding, I am able to hook a tiny cup under her top beak and spill a splash into her beak over and over for just a safe drink many times over) and I soak or float things in the antibiotic water like meal worms and boiled egg so that she gets a bit more as she eats. The first time I just isolated her and it was her only water source since she was sick as sick could be without dying but now I catch it early and think her appetite stays better if I leave her with the flock and she eats with the competition. I get as much antibiotic water down her as I can in 10 days. The 2 subsequent times it has happened after the first went well. her appetite goes down due to the antibiotic so I still try to entice her to eat when I am medicating her with extra treats like chick food soaked in antibiotic water, blueberries as well. Usually her abdomen continues to swell and she gets more sedate and lethargic for a couple more days until the antibiotic starts to do its job (as well as her own immune system being able to help because I catch it when she is still pretty healthy) then about the 4th and 5th day she is pretty swollen still but not getting any worse and then usually by the 6th day her tummy starts to go down, and by the 8th day she is fighting me to not take any more of the water but we persist for the full 10. Then she goes for a few more days with a decreased appetite because the antibiotic is tough on her tummy but I feed her yogurt to help restore the good bacteria to her stomach and usually about 3 days later she is eating like a champ and packing on weight again. I am hoping she will just soon be out of eggs to try to lay and will live out her days healthy again. Her flockmate that is the exact same age and breed lays an egg about every 10 weeks or so, usually not a strong shell and it breaks right away so whatever it is that is wrong is probably a problem with the breed from this hatchery but that few of eggs tells me they will hopefully just be done laying soon. An occasional internal lay may go unnoticed as many times it is just absorbed into their system with no issue but if they build up that is when the problem can happen. My chickens are pets mostly meant to fertilize my garden and give eggs secondarily so they live till they die naturally or are in too much pain to be humanely kept alive. If this was something that happened continuously I may have a different approach with her but since the majority of her time is spent as a happy chicken and a small percentage is spent being what I perceive as simply an upset tummy with maybe some tenderness I just monitor and treat her. 


That is what my chickens are for as well. I am from az and never really thought about the soil out there until i moved to northeast Texas. We have black land. My garden last year really inly produced okra and cantaloupe. This year my garden is over an acre. The only thing i have found to somewhat work with the soil is fish fertilizer. (We even spread horse manure on it last winter)After talking to some people from around here, they had said that the absolute best thing for this soil is chicken manure. I already knew i was going to get chckens for eggs and occasionally (if needed, like an extra rooster) for meat. I have this dream of a five year plan. Living completely off the land. My grandparents did it in az but i didnt know what i was up against with this soil. Of course, after my first try with my araucanas. I was too devasted. I got really attached. I would cuddle them every night and they would watch tv with me. I had one hen that would love to just go eveywhere with me perched on my finger. Everything happens for a reason and i believe that that reason was that they were sick beyond my control. We bought them from a flea market. The people who had them had all sorts of animal shoved in a tiny crate and would just pile them on top of eachother in a small horse trailer. When i got them home i had realized that they all had masses of petrified poop on their toes. It took me days and long long nights with olive oil and warm water to get it off. They also had really bad diarrhea. We got some (i think it was called chorid) and it seemed to only help 2. The rest continued to have very runny and the most vile smelling (worse than my one year olds nastiest diapers) diarrhea. But they were my babies. It was really hard to find them all gone with nothing but a homicide scene left behind. I dont think i ever really gave up my wabt for araucanas. I grew up with them. They would just come and jump up in your lap. Now with these, i am running into problems i mever had. Personality problems. After speaking with my grandma and my aunt, i think i am actually going to go to the poultry auction and get some araucanas and give these ones away (except my leghorn). They have become the red ones have become agressive and the two black ones have become very territorial. I dont kbow that i want that around my babies when they go and help in the coop. Now i just have to worry about introducing new pullets because this is something i have never done.
 
Well, how a pullet acts is much different sometimes than how the same hen will act. Unless they are roosters they will most likely settle down. Integrating newbies can be time consuming but it eventually usually works out. My red ones are reportedly the worst case scenario for it, 2 months of having them in adjacent areas with fencing separating them and then another month of those poor little EE's running for their lives lol. Mine all coexist fine now though. If you have the means and ability you should think about raised beds for your gardens at least partially. I have terrible soil too and my raised beds are so much easier to ammend and beef up the soil each year.
 

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