Please help! I’m concerned I’ve got a flock of roosters!

[Henpeckedrooster]

Hi guys,
I’m 4 weeks in to owning chickens and based on my limited knowledge I think the little chicks I’ve got the majority are going to be roosters.
I’ve researched wing sexing, sex linked chickens and cockerel development but can’t seem to get all 3 to match up.
If anyone could lead me in the right direction I would be greatly appreciative.

I have 4 majority brown and 6 majority white. of those, the browns look to have the more red combs but they’re so close to some of the white birds it’s hard to tell.

Attached are some photos of my ungendered and unknown breed flock.

they’re approximately 8 weeks old.
Thanks in advance. Greg

 

[wamtazlady]

Based on my limited experience in sexing chickens, they all look like cockerels to me if I am going by the combs only. I have 17 week old pullets and none of them have combs that are as big and red as your chickens. If they start to grow saddle feathers in the next few weeks you will know.

If you researched wing sexing you know that it is only done on day old chicks. It is also only accurate for special breeds that hatcheries hatch for just that purpose. Very few breeds can be wing sexed.

Sex linked chicks look different from the day they are hatched. It is easy to separate the pullets from cockerels by their color.

Where did you get these chickens from?

 

[Mylied]

Yes, where did you get them? It seems like maybe you got sex linked cockerels. I can't imagine someone has that bad of luck to get all cockerels in a straight run bin.

 

[Mylied]

I see you got them at 4 weeks so it could've also been clear to the seller what they were selling you. I just gave away 8 cockerels who weren't even 4 weeks old yet so you can tell with some at that age.

 

[nao57]

Well, if worst comes to worst you could still get some gains by converting them to meat and use what you saved by not having going to go to the grocery store by getting replacement hens.

That would mean starting all over, but on the bright side its cheaper to raise the meat than buy it in the store. And its still early in the year with time to grow.

This means you can still come out ahead without a loss. You could just keep raising them until right before they are supposed to start crowing and cull them then.

Another thing you can do...and I feel really silly to have not thought about this myself...

My sister in law was telling me sometimes animal controls get chickens. I wish I'd thought of checking there for some before going to Cal Ranch and other stores for them. (But granted I don't know if your local animal pound charges for them?) If you really do have males, then you could check if you can get them for free or at least at a discounted rate from the animal control/pound setup.

Also my sister in law had also told me from working in law enforcement that a lot of law enforcement agencies are mad about the panic buying because they think in a few months when things calm down that people will start abandoning (panic bought) chickens and that if that's the case then there might be a whole bunch of them that people are up for grabs.

Although personally I think it will be a mistake to relax when covid-19 ends. I think it will still be a great recession and just a lull before the next storm makes things worse again. The people who relax their guard are going to be making a mistake. One of the reasons poverty has surged in this country and we lost much of our middle class is that people had a lot of false ideas and propaganda about self sufficiency and trusting others to make their life easier by giving them control. You are always better off working for yourself than others.

Hope that helps.

 

[Henpeckedrooster]

Based on my limited experience in sexing chickens, they all look like cockerels to me if I am going by the combs only. I have 17 week old pullets and none of them have combs that are as big and red as your chickens. If they start to grow saddle feathers in the next few weeks you will know.

If you researched wing sexing you know that it is only done on day old chicks. It is also only accurate for special breeds that hatcheries hatch for just that purpose. Very few breeds can be wing sexed.

Sex linked chicks look different from the day they are hatched. It is easy to separate the pullets from cockerels by their color.

Where did you get these chickens from?

I got them from a local lady who didn’t really know what she had. She hatched chicks and then sold the remaining.
I’ve reached out to her but her knowledge is very limited.

 

[Mylied]

They are cockerels. I don't see a single pullet.

 

[Mylied]

I got them from a local lady who didn’t really know what she had. She hatched chicks and then sold the remaining.
I’ve reached out to her but her knowledge is very limited.

What did they look like when you bought them?

 

[Henpeckedrooster]

Yes, where did you get them? It seems like maybe you got sex linked cockerels. I can't imagine someone has that bad of luck to get all cockerels in a straight run bin.

I got them from a local lady who hatched or bought these a few months back. But she had no idea what they where. She couldn’t tell me sex or anything else.
I thought I’d at least get 3-4 hens out of 10. But looks like I have none.

 

[Henpeckedrooster]

What did they look like when you bought them?

this is what they looked like at 4 weeks