Ooops!!!

[jnntefend]

So, um, I am really showing my new-egginess here, but...

My husband and I decided to do meat birds as well as egg birds this year, so I went off to TSC for some Cornish Rocks. They only had eight and we wanted twelve, so I decided to get six Cornish Rock and six white Plymouth Rocks. I took them home and stuck them all together in their little brooder and thought...

Um, what if I want to keep a couple of the Plymouth Rock hens for eggs?

So I ran off to google images, and found, much to my dismay, that these two breeds of chicken, well, they look very similar, and I was hoping that one of you good folks could tell me how to tell the difference, if not as chicks, maybe when they start to feather out...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Give them a week or two, then compare SIZE. Piece of cake.

 

[jnntefend]

I took a closer look at them this evening and realized that half of them had nice, normal looking wings, like my RIRs, and half had these odd, tiny, gimpy looking wings that looked too small for their bodies. I am assuming that the gimps are the Cornish crosses, but you know what they say about assuming... any thoughts?

 

[gardendufus]

Rate of growth and SIZE will be your clue.

 

[erinchelsea]

don't worry, you'll figure out soon. I have both breeds and wouldn't ever get them confused! The Cornish Rocks grow so fast their feathers can't fill in fast enough and they look pretty goofy for awhile. Also their legs are MUCH thicker.

 

[jnntefend]

Now, a week later, it is very clear who's who. The funny thing is, the Cornish Rocks sort of look like tiny finished chickens. And they have massive bottoms. The Plymouths still have nice, long wings that run the length of their bodies and are visibly smaller. Thanks so much for yalls help. Look for me in a month or so in the what gender is this forum for those Plymouths.

 

[jnntefend]

Here they are... big bottomed CornshX, and Plymouths