New to Raising Chickens (Don't know what I have)

[atspell]

My wife and I are new to raising chickens and thought we'd start off with 2 dozen White Leghorns. Everyone told us they laid the most eggs. Someone I don't even know then gave us 11 chickens and we don't even know what they are. We were hoping someone here could tell us what breed these chickens are. I took the best pictures I could, they all kept running from me...LOL.

 

[Illia]

This thread will get more responses in the "What breed/gender?" section.

The bottom one I don't know but back in Utah we used to have a hen like that. . . similar to the black Sex Link only not.

Pic 3 looks like a badly laced, combed Golden Laced Wyandotte.

All the solid black hens are Black Australorps.

The black barred hen may be a Cuckoo Marans, but more likely a Barred Rock.

The barred rooster with the weird comb is a Dominique.

Not sure on the Crele bearded rooster and not sure on the black and red rooster. . .

You may just have a lot of mutts.

 

[atspell]

Yea, I just realized I clicked on the wrong category and was trying to find a way to move it. Thanks for the reply. That gives me some idea anyway.

 

[Illia]

By the way -

- Have they laid eggs for you? If so, what colors? (as in, what shades of brown. . I don't see any there that lay any other color but brown

)

 

[atspell]

Well, thanks. I actually got the first egg on Tuesday. It was light brown and my wife ate it. No more yet.

I wonder if I can get a mod to move this post to the "What breed/gender?" section for me....

 

[Break an Egg]

The roo in the 1st pic looks like he could be a mix of the rooster in pic #8

The 2nd pic the roo looks like a black sex link (barred rock mom, red dad)

The 3rd pic I have no idea, she's very pretty though

The black and white hen in the 4th pic looks like a cuckoo marans because of the white legs

The 6th pic of the black hen looks like she could be an Astralorp

not sure

Pic #8 the roo looks like a Dominique

the last pic the hen looks like a black sex link, which is the female version of the combo mentioned above

I just wanted to also say

you have some very pretty healthy looking birds

 

[atspell]

Thanks for the reply. So far we have enjoyed having the chickens around. I can't keep my seven year old out of the hen house and my 13 year old feeds them every morning without even having to be told. They are home-schooled so it's like an FFA project for them.

 

[Tala]

They are pretty and healthy looking!!!

With only 11 chickens total, you're probably gonna wanna get rid of 2 of those roosters though.
I had 2 roosters in with 8 hens, and it was terrible on the girls! One of them is wearing a hen saddle and still shying away from the (remaining) rooster anytime he comes near. She used to be his best friend, so I'm sad to see her acting this way.


Do Dominiques have that light grey-colored legs? The one yall are calling Dominique has a lot of off-colored feathers showing "through" his barring. I'm seeing some green and red feathers in there. I think he's a mutt. Maybe they are just hatchery birds.
They look like wonderful backyard chickens, but none of them are good examples of any pure breed. They'll lay FINE eggs though! I love mutts!! Hatched out 16 little backyard mixed breed chicks earlier in March

 

[Freeholder]

As I was scrolling through the pictures, my thought was that they might all be cross-breeds -- eggs that someone hatched out from their mixed laying flock. I didn't see many, if any, that looked like they met a breed standard. However, that doesn't mean that they are bad chickens! It just means that you have a unique flock! Hopefully they'll lay well for you.

Do you know how old they are?

It wouldn't hurt, with the economy teetering on the edge, to keep all the roosters. But if you can manage it, it would be a good idea to separate all but one roo at a time from the flock. The poster who mentioned the damage that too many roosters can do was correct. I've got four roos running around in the yard right now, but I have twenty-four hens, and they are loose in the yard so the hens can get away from the roos if they want. Also, the roos are all either Silkie or part-Silkie, and most of the hens are bigger than they are, which helps.

Kathleen

 

[kcsunshine]

Nice flock - you and your family will really enjoy them. You'll find they all have their own personality - some will be friendly and some will not, no matter what you do. Roosters can sometimes be mean, so be careful with your 7 y/o.