JulesRSA
Songster
Hi BYC family! I need some help IDing a possible rooster please.
I got my first ever little flock of 4 girls about 3 weeks ago now, supposedly all 9-10 weeks old (so now 12-ish weeks).
The “breeder” (if I can call him that!) supplies hybrids based on interesting egg colours - I got two blue EEs, a Marans-EE hybrid who will probably lay dark/reddish eggs, and an Andalusian hybrid (she does have dark eyes and blue legs/feet) who should lay white. He confirmed that they are all female, and they are inoculated and de-wormed (I actually saw him administering the dewormer when I collected them).
Of the two EE girls, one is noticeably smaller than the other 3. Not sure if she is younger, or just a smaller/runty bird. She’s adorable and has quite the little personality! The other EE was a little smaller than the Andalusian girl when I got them, but has rapidly become the largest and heaviest of the bunch, and I’m starting to wonder if she is in fact a he… “she” seems to have more rooster-like posture, and is highly aggressive (currently in chicken jail for bullying all 3 of the others mercilessly and injuring the smaller EE). The two EE girls both came to me with bald patches, but the littlest one had a totally bald rump - she got pecked open pretty badly, but has healed up nicely thanks to some great advice from BYC and TLC from us - her bare butt is even finally starting to feather in!
The other 3 girls get on fine, aside from the odd squabble about who gets to eat first, which I think is pretty normal. No further injuries or dramas since the bigger EE has been in chicken jail, but segregation doesn’t seem to be fixing “her” attitude problem - I closed off a sheltered portion of the run with an isolation cage, “she” has her own food bowl in there, and can access the waterer. After 5 days in jail I let her out and she went straight for the smallest EE and her bare butt, so back to jail she went. After another week in jail I let her out yesterday for some supervised free-ranging and this time she immediately went after each of the other 3 girls in turn, leaping at them, pecking, and chasing. I was hoping she would settle down given some time, but if any of the others came anywhere near her, she would go for them.
“She” also arrived with a bald patch on her back which is only now feathering in, so I can’t yet tell if she’s developing pointy saddle feathers or not
The girls spend most of their day in an approx 42 square ft run, with 10 square feet of coop space in addition to the run, two roosting bars of equal height (the 3 seem to happily roost and cuddle up together, I always find them snuggled up on the same pole when I lock up at night). They get some supervised free ranging time in the garden most days. Food and water is freely available, they get a protein rich starter crumble daily, and dried mealworms and sometimes blueberries and spinach / salad greens for the odd treat. They have access to grit and dust to bathe in (run floor is sand and bark chips).
Is my big EE girl in fact a boy?
Some pics attached (apologies that they aren’t ideal photos due to the isolation cage - I’ll let her out when I’m back from work to see if can’t get some better ones).
I got my first ever little flock of 4 girls about 3 weeks ago now, supposedly all 9-10 weeks old (so now 12-ish weeks).
The “breeder” (if I can call him that!) supplies hybrids based on interesting egg colours - I got two blue EEs, a Marans-EE hybrid who will probably lay dark/reddish eggs, and an Andalusian hybrid (she does have dark eyes and blue legs/feet) who should lay white. He confirmed that they are all female, and they are inoculated and de-wormed (I actually saw him administering the dewormer when I collected them).
Of the two EE girls, one is noticeably smaller than the other 3. Not sure if she is younger, or just a smaller/runty bird. She’s adorable and has quite the little personality! The other EE was a little smaller than the Andalusian girl when I got them, but has rapidly become the largest and heaviest of the bunch, and I’m starting to wonder if she is in fact a he… “she” seems to have more rooster-like posture, and is highly aggressive (currently in chicken jail for bullying all 3 of the others mercilessly and injuring the smaller EE). The two EE girls both came to me with bald patches, but the littlest one had a totally bald rump - she got pecked open pretty badly, but has healed up nicely thanks to some great advice from BYC and TLC from us - her bare butt is even finally starting to feather in!
The other 3 girls get on fine, aside from the odd squabble about who gets to eat first, which I think is pretty normal. No further injuries or dramas since the bigger EE has been in chicken jail, but segregation doesn’t seem to be fixing “her” attitude problem - I closed off a sheltered portion of the run with an isolation cage, “she” has her own food bowl in there, and can access the waterer. After 5 days in jail I let her out and she went straight for the smallest EE and her bare butt, so back to jail she went. After another week in jail I let her out yesterday for some supervised free-ranging and this time she immediately went after each of the other 3 girls in turn, leaping at them, pecking, and chasing. I was hoping she would settle down given some time, but if any of the others came anywhere near her, she would go for them.
“She” also arrived with a bald patch on her back which is only now feathering in, so I can’t yet tell if she’s developing pointy saddle feathers or not
The girls spend most of their day in an approx 42 square ft run, with 10 square feet of coop space in addition to the run, two roosting bars of equal height (the 3 seem to happily roost and cuddle up together, I always find them snuggled up on the same pole when I lock up at night). They get some supervised free ranging time in the garden most days. Food and water is freely available, they get a protein rich starter crumble daily, and dried mealworms and sometimes blueberries and spinach / salad greens for the odd treat. They have access to grit and dust to bathe in (run floor is sand and bark chips).
Is my big EE girl in fact a boy?
Some pics attached (apologies that they aren’t ideal photos due to the isolation cage - I’ll let her out when I’m back from work to see if can’t get some better ones).
Attachments
Last edited:
and we are already so attached to this bunch, although this does explain the aggression issues at least.
I suppose I should be grateful that he’s at least not a total rip off artist, but I don’t know what the next step is - I clearly can’t trust him, and I really don’t want to end up with another flock of boys that I can’t keep, but also know I can’t keep Matilda by herself 
