We've raised 3 day old chicks to the point where they're starting to lay with LOTS of help from a local organic farmer and this forum! We started with 8 chicks from Tractor Supply that are supposedly from "a hatchery in Arizona" that were in the "mixed dual purpose" bin, and 12 from our friend who purchased hundreds from a more local hatchery. The Tractor Supply girls are 4 reds (who were the first to start laying), and there are 4 barred black ones that I can't for the life of me tell apart from the 2 that I got from our friend that are supposed to be Cuckoo Marans. IS there a way to tell these girls apart? They haven't all developed their combs yet. I don't NEED to tell them apart, but I'd like to. We lost one to a predator, but the rest of the flock is: 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 4 Columbian Wyandottes, 2 Ameracauna (or Easter Eggers???), and a Cuckoo Maran roo. Thanks for any thoughts you can share!
Skin color is the easiest -- look for white legs vs. yellow legs. The barred Rocks should also have much crisper barring while the Marans will have a messier look to the colors. FWIW, hatchery stock doesn't always follow the rules so it might not be possible to know for certain.
Yep, the barring is random enough that there aren't 4 birds I can clearly identify as "YOU are the TSC girls!" and I've been studying their legs for weeks and I can't quite tell because they're all a little different. *sigh* Maybe as they get more mature...? Thanks for all the input!!!
