PICS ADDED ** Telling age of chicks?

CircleC

In the Brooder
8 Years
Jul 1, 2011
15
0
22
Pennsylvania
Hey guys.

New chicken owner here. I'm wondering how/if you can tell the age of chicks by their physical looks?

I bought 2 Rhode Island Red chicks about 3 weeks ago, but they were pretty big. They now almost have all their reg feathers. They have "baby fuzz" on their heads/necks, but pretty much have all their reg feathers everywhere else. Any idea how old they would be?

I also went back and bought one more Rhode Island Red chick and 4 Orpington chicks. They are little and the only "normal looking" feathers they have are on the tips of their wings. Any idea how old they are?

Thanks for the help.
 
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Your RIR were about 4 weeks old when you got them. The new chicks are a about 2-3 days old. It's easier to estimate if we can see pictures.
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Pictures would help us take a better guess, but based on your description I would say the ones with fuzzy necks and regular feathers everywhere else are about 4 weeks old. And I would say the others are a little over a week.
 
Forgot to mention...

I also have a malliard (?) duckling that we rescued. I'm not sure how he/she got separated from it's mother, but we found it in the driveway, no other ducks around. So, of course we grabbed it before the cat could. This is why I decided to get some chickens and play around with them.

I'm wondering how old the duck is too. I have had it for 3ish weeks and he/she is not very big. Do they not get reg feathers as quickly as a chicken does? He is still fluff. Also, how can I tell if "he's" a boy or a girl?
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Will attach pics soon.... working on my 10 posts


Thanks!
 
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I don't know much about ducks but I am pretty sure that they stay fluff longer then chickens do. Also, I think the males will develop something called a drake feather which is a basically a curled feather and the females won't. But I don't know much about ducks so hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
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Thos is what the 2 older RIR's looked like when I brought them home: age?
98359_0616111835a_01.jpg


This is what they look like now:
98359_0701111801.jpg



Here are the ones I got today:(age?)
98359_0701111757a_01.jpg





Here is the duck: (age/sex???)
98359_0701111757b.jpg
 
The RIR look around 2 weeks in the first pic and 4 weeks in the second pic. Your second set of chicks look like 2-3 days old. I don't know anything about ducks.
 

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