NewFlockOnTheBlock
Songster
We got a bunch of chicks, sexed, from Meyer Hatchery in August. We got them in two batches and they are now a little over 3 and 4 weeks old. A couple of chicks died, one in transit and one several days after we got them, and we now have a total of 11. One chick, a Buff Orpington, was supposed to be a male, and he very obviously is even at just over 3 weeks of age, and all the others were supposed to be female.
However, we are concerned that one of our Partridge Rocks may also be a male... She is from the first batch so just over 4 weeks old. Her comb is really coming in strong (while her Buff Orpington female peers hardly have a comb at all), she is all ostrich-like with her huge legs, and she is really active. My husband calls her "the instigator" because she is always trying to escape while on supervised outings in the back yard, making a beeline for some off-limits area like the garden bed next to the fence, and a bunch of the others will usually follow suit. We've actually named her Wild Child due to her antics. Our other Partridge Rock, who is a week younger, is very different. Active but not hyperactive, snuggly, sweet and mellow. Her name is Honey Pie
What is encouraging is that Wild Child doesn't display some of the rooster-like behavior that our Buff Orpington guy is showing. For example, he will often walk around the group as if he was checking on each chick, and he "takes care" of his girls by picking mites off of them when they sand-bathe. (The girls will sometimes do this for each other too but he does it more often.) He also squeals and struggles louder than the others when he doesn't feel like being picked up. And, he has started to play-fight, chest bumping and doing the stare-down with our 3-week-old Ameracauna, one of our biggest and most active female (or hopefully female) chicks. Wild Child isn't doing any of that.
So, what do you all think? Is she just a fast-growing and independent-spirited girl? Or could it really be a baby rooster? We'd be devastated if she turned out to be a rooster because I doubt that our neighbors would tolerate more than one. Even if we can somehow keep two roosters, it would mean having to get at least 10 more hens to ensure we had enough girls for the two of them, and that is something we were not planning on at all, and probably don't have the space for.
However, we are concerned that one of our Partridge Rocks may also be a male... She is from the first batch so just over 4 weeks old. Her comb is really coming in strong (while her Buff Orpington female peers hardly have a comb at all), she is all ostrich-like with her huge legs, and she is really active. My husband calls her "the instigator" because she is always trying to escape while on supervised outings in the back yard, making a beeline for some off-limits area like the garden bed next to the fence, and a bunch of the others will usually follow suit. We've actually named her Wild Child due to her antics. Our other Partridge Rock, who is a week younger, is very different. Active but not hyperactive, snuggly, sweet and mellow. Her name is Honey Pie
What is encouraging is that Wild Child doesn't display some of the rooster-like behavior that our Buff Orpington guy is showing. For example, he will often walk around the group as if he was checking on each chick, and he "takes care" of his girls by picking mites off of them when they sand-bathe. (The girls will sometimes do this for each other too but he does it more often.) He also squeals and struggles louder than the others when he doesn't feel like being picked up. And, he has started to play-fight, chest bumping and doing the stare-down with our 3-week-old Ameracauna, one of our biggest and most active female (or hopefully female) chicks. Wild Child isn't doing any of that.
So, what do you all think? Is she just a fast-growing and independent-spirited girl? Or could it really be a baby rooster? We'd be devastated if she turned out to be a rooster because I doubt that our neighbors would tolerate more than one. Even if we can somehow keep two roosters, it would mean having to get at least 10 more hens to ensure we had enough girls for the two of them, and that is something we were not planning on at all, and probably don't have the space for.
waiting for photos
