Oh no! I think my 'pullets' have spurs!

[Jessie_Jazz]

I bought 3 new chickens at an auction at the weekend, one is older than the other two and I'm fairly sure its a girl.
I wasn't sure about the other two, but I'd heard you can tell by feeling their legs. Both the little one have bumps on their legs above their back toe. Is this the start of spur? Is there any chance they might still be girls? I don't think I can keep cockerals

 

[gmendoza]

All chickens have spur bumps.its in their genetic makeup.We have a mutt-cukoo miran who has big spurs and its a hen.We also had a australorp that had one very sharp spur that was the hen-boss last year.Perfectly normal.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

All chickens (hens and roosters) have a spur bud.

However, the one in the middle of your picture could be a rooster. The others I can't tell as well since they have their heads turned away.

 

[EweSheep]

I have a feeling that both of them are roos.

 

[schellie69]

I have one BO that has 1/4 inch spurs on both legs and she does beat up the rooster when he thinks about flogging me. Blondie now has a forever home until she dies of old age. oh and she is now my husband's hen

Since she protect him from the rooster

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

I have some more pictures of them, they're not brilliant as they won't stay still for long enough annd my husband is too chicken (get it?! ho ho) to pick them up so I can take a picture.

If they are boys, is there anything special I need to do to house them or one of them? My chickens have to stay in a run as we have a strange neighbour, I don't know what he would do if they wandered onto his land.....

The run is pretty big but only 4ft high..... is that too short for a cockeral?

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

Oh, and here is the big one. She has no bumps on her legs at all.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

The bigger one is a hen. The other two are iffy. They look like Dark Cornish or a Dark Cornish x Wyandotte cross.

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

They were sold just as 'wyandottes' I first thought they were gold laced, but they're pretty dark.... maybe black laced?

Someone has said that the big one looks about 16 weeks old
Don't know about the other two...

 

[akcountrygrrl]

I think at least one of the two is a roo. It looks like it has some long pointy saddle feathers coming in. 4 ft high run shouldn't be a problem for any of your birds. And, as others have said, spurs don't mean a thing.

I had a speckled Sussex hen that had 2 1/2 inch long wicked sharp spurs.