Picking up some 3-wk old Speckled Sussex this weekend - anyway to raise the odds of getting pullets?

[Clumber]

HI there,

We found some 3 week Speckled Sussex chicks for sale sort of local to us. We'd like to get all or most as pullets, and am wondering if there are signs of "Rooster!" that we can look for when we are selecting the chicks we want. Or will we have the same ole' 50:50 chance as a straight-run?

Worth asking! Thanks in advance!

~ Tracy

 

[Fred's Hens]

About all you can do is choose chicks with thinner, shorter legs. Sometimes the cockerels have stouter legs.
You can also choose chicks with long tails, as cockerels sometimes have shorter tails at first.
At 3 weeks, there just won't be enough comb or wattle development to give the cockerels away, such as there might be at 7 weeks.

Enjoy them, either way it goes.

 

[Clumber]

Thank you!

 

[Clumber]

Well we resolved the issue by taking all 8 of them. Hoping at least a couple are hens! Got to see their parents dang the Rooster was handsome! The Roo and the hens were very very friendly, too. Interesting, on the drive home the chicks make 'peeps' that are different than our BRs and RIRs, sort of a soft trill. Pretty cool. And they are exactly the same size as the chicks we already had, so should be good to go once we have q-tined the newbies for a bit.

 

[Jakoda]

I have a couple of 6 week old speckleds, they are such pretty birds..GOD I hope the poster who said shorter tails may indicate rooster,,I ordered all pullets, but one of these girls does have a short tail,,"Hazel" may be "Herman!" LOL

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Can you have a rooster?

In a straight run you will never have a 50:50 chance, more like 70:30, we always have more pullets but still a fair amount is cockerals

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Agh, sorry i thought you said pullet not straight run XD

 

[bairo]

flip them upside down in the palm of your hand. the ones that either try to take off running or fight hard to flip back over asap are cocks.....if they just kind of lay there and barely fight and look at you like your stupid they are pullets

ps. We loved our SS's... Among the first batch of chicks we ever owned. There are some pics on my coop page