pleas help me?!?

[michaelallen311]

i am new to both this forum and raising chickens. i bought some cherry egger chickens a few months ago. they are ~4 months old now. my biggest problem is i cannot tell the difference between the hen and the rooster!! when i bought them, i expected one rooser going by tail size, but i thought i had upwards of 3. anyway, right now, i have 2 cockadoodeldooing, but out of 16 chickens, most of them look the same to me. there are only about 4 that look much smaller and more hen like?? anyway, i sure hope i dont have a ton of roosters. can anyone help me here please?

 

[All Henned Up]

Some chickens can be feather sexed at that age. look at the hackle feathers (back of the neck) roosters are more pointed and hens are more rounded. So if you study the ones that are crowing and compare, that might help you determine the sex. Then put a small zip tie(leg band) on the ones you want to keep.

 

[ocap]

I got ten australorp straight run chicks last spring and ended up with eight cockerels, sad but true, all the "middle size combs" turned out to be males. Some didn't crow because they were not high enough on the pecking ladder.

Four months old and you probably are guessing correctly.

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

Post some pics of your chickens in the What Breed Or Gender is This? and try and remember which is which lol. Let the members there have a look and see what you've got.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

 

[AK Baha]

Hello and welcome.

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[liz9910]

Welcome to BYC! x2 on Sumi's advice.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!