Pullet or cockerel - Hmong chick!

[BrandonLis]

I can’t remember, but where did you get your Hmong chickens from?

 

[SuperFluffyChickens]

I can’t remember, but where did you get your Hmong chickens from?

I got them from Sugar Feather Farm in Vermont, they raise a lot of rare breeds there and have been super nice and helpful. I’ve gotten a nice variety of healthy and beautiful birds.

 

[BrandonLis]

I got them from Sugar Feather Farm in Vermont, they raise a lot of rare breeds there and have been super nice and helpful. I’ve gotten a nice variety of healthy and beautiful birds.

Oh nice, I just hatched a recent batch from them. Incredibly skittish chicks and LARGER than my other Hmong chickens. Will have to be careful to select best birds for my project. Half of mine are pea combs, which I’m not an entire fan of.

 

[SuperFluffyChickens]

Oh wow, small world! Yeah, about half of my chicks that have hatched from them (8 total, 5 last year and 3 this year) were always skittish, but the rest are sweet and friendly in a mild-mannered way. I think Nicole of SFF breeds for health, temperament and retaining the native variety of her landrace breeds. So all the birds are different in terms of personality and appearance, which I personally like but that’s just my own taste. My hen Blackbird is one of my favorite birds I’ve ever owned, she’s so stunningly beautiful, mellow and sweet. And my girl Nkauj Hnub, who I gave a Hmong name that means Lady Sun, is friendly, lovely, and a monster when she’s broody!
I personally much prefer the pea combs since I live in a climate with very cold winters (as does Sugar Feather, I’m not super close but I can drive there to pick up my hatching eggs, and she helped me vaccinate my chicks for Marek’s after they’d hatched.)

Blackbird, I just took this today

Hnub! She’s a hefty girl!

 

[BrandonLis]

Oh wow, small world! Yeah, about half of my chicks that have hatched from them (8 total, 5 last year and 3 this year) were always skittish, but the rest are sweet and friendly in a mild-mannered way. I think Nicole of SFF breeds for health, temperament and retaining the native variety of her landrace breeds. So all the birds are different in terms of personality and appearance, which I personally like but that’s just my own taste. My hen Blackbird is one of my favorite birds I’ve ever owned, she’s so stunningly beautiful, mellow and sweet. And my girl Nkauj Hnub, who I gave a Hmong name that means Lady Sun, is friendly, lovely, and a monster when she’s broody!
I personally much prefer the pea combs since I live in a climate with very cold winters (as does Sugar Feather, I’m not super close but I can drive there to pick up my hatching eggs, and she helped me vaccinate my chicks for Marek’s after they’d hatched.)
View attachment 4180359
Blackbird, I just took this today

View attachment 4180361
Hnub! She’s a hefty girl!

Wow, what a perfect name to give her! I appreciate you for being very culturally inclusive of the Hmong chicken breed as well. Those are some big girls too!

 

[BrandonLis]

Alright.. I guess it’s gonna be my turn as well. These are 8 chicks I hatched from Sugar Feather Farms as well—so, same stock like yours. I’m quite surprised how big these ones are compared to my other Hmong chickens, but also how extremely flighty and skittish they are as well. 4 supposedly pure blacks or bronze, 2 birchens, 1 pumpkin, and 1 silver. Keeping the silver and pumpkin regardless of their sex. But for sure, got a couple “cockerels” that we’ll have to wait a couple more weeks. I was playing with two of them wiggling my finger in the brooder to “test” if they’ll play with it. But we shall see haha.

 

[Bigdumogre]

Oh wow, small world! Yeah, about half of my chicks that have hatched from them (8 total, 5 last year and 3 this year) were always skittish, but the rest are sweet and friendly in a mild-mannered way. I think Nicole of SFF breeds for health, temperament and retaining the native variety of her landrace breeds. So all the birds are different in terms of personality and appearance, which I personally like but that’s just my own taste. My hen Blackbird is one of my favorite birds I’ve ever owned, she’s so stunningly beautiful, mellow and sweet. And my girl Nkauj Hnub, who I gave a Hmong name that means Lady Sun, is friendly, lovely, and a monster when she’s broody!
I personally much prefer the pea combs since I live in a climate with very cold winters (as does Sugar Feather, I’m not super close but I can drive there to pick up my hatching eggs, and she helped me vaccinate my chicks for Marek’s after they’d hatched.)
View attachment 4180359
Blackbird, I just took this today

View attachment 4180361
Hnub! She’s a hefty girl!

Blackbird is a model!!! beautiful coloration

 

[SuperFluffyChickens]

Alright.. I guess it’s gonna be my turn as well. These are 8 chicks I hatched from Sugar Feather Farms as well—so, same stock like yours. I’m quite surprised how big these ones are compared to my other Hmong chickens, but also how extremely flighty and skittish they are as well. 4 supposedly pure blacks or bronze, 2 birchens, 1 pumpkin, and 1 silver. Keeping the silver and pumpkin regardless of their sex. But for sure, got a couple “cockerels” that we’ll have to wait a couple more weeks. I was playing with two of them wiggling my finger in the brooder to “test” if they’ll play with it. But we shall see haha.

That silver one looks a lot like one I hatched this year, and she ended up being Quail which is interesting. I’ve been learning a lot about genetics since I hatched my first eggs from my own flock this year.

(Hmong on bottom, BYM pullet on top)

I haven’t had too many problems with skittishness, I have a couple that are like that but some that aren’t. But then again when I raise my chicks, I’m in the room with them literally all day until they move into the coop (small benefits of being partially-housebound) so, maybe, they’re not inherently friendly but can learn to be? Idk I’m not an expert at all, I’m still learning the best way to socialize chicks for friendliness. They do seem to be pretty intelligent birds.

You also seem to have gotten a mix of shapes too, I’ve noticed some I’ve had are small and gamey, but most are big and heavy-bodied, some have elegant necks and dainty heads while some…don’t haha. That’s what I like about them, it’s a surprise in every egg, but I can understand that a breeder trying to establish uniform color and size would be vexed!

Your babies are lovely though, and I hope they warm up to you!

Also, here’s the little guy this post was originally about, he’s definitely a boy! Just under 8 weeks old now.

 

[SuperFluffyChickens]

Blackbird is a model!!! beautiful coloration

Thank you! I’ll tell her you said that!

 

[Disheygirl]

Hello again, these Hmong continue to baffle me with sexing them as chicks. I have 3, one that’s obviously a cockerel and one that’s most likely a pullet. The third one looks like it’s perfectly in between! The comb and wattles have a tinge of red, but they’re not as big as the brother’s. This kid is pretty dainty, and has a pretty long tail for their age. Any guesses? It’s all for fun and to help me learn, I’ll be happy with either. View attachment 4172890View attachment 4172891View attachment 4172892

I hatched a few from sugar feather too - my one guy (I think it’s a boy) looks a lot like the chick in your original post! It is so active that I have to video and then screen shot - can’t get a still shot. When they hatched, it was tearing around the incubator like a quail - it’s a crazy chick but also follows me around. Little goof.