Yes, I think you may be right about the red sex link thingy.... crossed with these 2 roos, I got 4 pure white birds. I hope they lay as good as they look,, lol.
Buffy hatched 2 of the 5 Trader Joe eggs. She got off the nest with the other chicks and got in a "different" nest box. (I think Miss Lydia said she might do this.) When I removed the 3 eggs, she got back in her original nest box. I didn't have the courage to do eggtopsies this time. I figured if Buffy didn't want them, they must be bad....and I wasn't going to incubate them for her like I'd done in the past.
I'm a little concerned with the White Leghorn chicks.....are all of them (pullets and cockerels) born with a little comb? I will ONLY keep girls for their eggs and I don't want any roosters.
Also, Buffy doesn't defend her baby chicks. The other hens have run up to the chicks and PECKED them really hard and Buffy does nothing! Fortunately, my son saw this and acted as rooster and tossed the other hens away from the babies. We keep Buffy and the babies secluded from the other chickens, but this is going to get time consuming and old acting as referee for the babies. I thought the Momma hen was supposed to protect her baby chicks!
We also gave Buffy a Welsummer chick from the feed store which she has accepted as her own. They are a cute little family. Here is a picture:
Both the pullets and cockerels develop large combs for WLs. So seeing one from birth is normal. However, you will be able to tell with certainty the WL roos from pullets by either the 4th or 5th week. The cockerels will have red combs and wattles - the pullets will stay yellowish until close to laying age (somewhere around 19 weeks?).
Here's our group at 3 weeks - they are tougher to spot the pullet - but in 1 week it will be obvious.
Here is my 4 week old WL cockerel (we had 4 like this one - we kept 1 and rehomed 3)
and his 4 week old sister
She looks so sweet. Glad she is doing good.Here is my poor broody Henrietta who was violated and almost killed by my rooster. She is still a committed momma and hasnt been off her nest hardly since. I think it made her more serious....
Oh she is! She never pecks at me and when I lift her up occasionally to check the eggs she just clucks never is mean. I have* grown to like her. She is actually my favorite out of my Standards. She is going to be a great mother, I just know it.
