I have been in contact with a hatchery that is about 40 miles away from me- and made arrangements to pick up my chicks today. The guy I talked to told me where to go. As I drove further out into the country, I passed lots of big beautiful farms. I fully expected this hatchery to be on a farm. Imagine my surprise when the location he gave me was a very small house in the middle of a neighborhood! He had free range chickens EVERYWHERE and a big brooding and incubating "operation" going on in one of the bedrooms of his house. He had some GORGEOUS baby ducks that were just born today- they were SOOOO cute! I almost switched and decided to go duck- but I restrained myself.
He guarantees that the chicks will all be hens- and will give you a refund and take back the roos. I asked him if he sexed them himself, and he said no. I asked him how he knows they are girls- he said that he looks at their vents... ok....isn't that sexing?
Anyways- I took five home- two Australorps, two Auracuanas, and 1 RIR. Now that I have been watching them play around in their brooder here at home, I've noticed one of the Auracuanas is considerably bigger than the others. They were all born on the same day (Wed). Can size be an indication of gender? Do bigger chicks become roos?
Now that I think back on the experience, he had about 10 brooders going, each with 20-30 chicks on in this room, and he told me that they were ALL pullets except for one tiny brooder that only had like 5 cockerels in it. Could he have gotten rid of all the cockerels? I'm kind of afraid he just guarantees that they are all pullets without actually knowing if they are or not. He might be counting on people not giving back their roos. What do you think?
Oh- I should add that I paid considerably more for these "sexed" chicks than I would have straight run.
He guarantees that the chicks will all be hens- and will give you a refund and take back the roos. I asked him if he sexed them himself, and he said no. I asked him how he knows they are girls- he said that he looks at their vents... ok....isn't that sexing?
Anyways- I took five home- two Australorps, two Auracuanas, and 1 RIR. Now that I have been watching them play around in their brooder here at home, I've noticed one of the Auracuanas is considerably bigger than the others. They were all born on the same day (Wed). Can size be an indication of gender? Do bigger chicks become roos?
Now that I think back on the experience, he had about 10 brooders going, each with 20-30 chicks on in this room, and he told me that they were ALL pullets except for one tiny brooder that only had like 5 cockerels in it. Could he have gotten rid of all the cockerels? I'm kind of afraid he just guarantees that they are all pullets without actually knowing if they are or not. He might be counting on people not giving back their roos. What do you think?
Oh- I should add that I paid considerably more for these "sexed" chicks than I would have straight run.
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