Pullets, hopefully?

[Winderdear]

Hi all!

My four chicks are 5 weeks old now, and I would love to know if I indeed have all pullets as ordered. This is my first time keeping chickens. I bought day old chicks from Meyer Hatchery, and picked autosexing breeds thinking there would be 0% chance of getting any boys, but since I started reading this forum I’ve realized that isn’t necessarily true. Hopefully I got lucky!

I think the first three have female coloring, but the last one, Août (pronounced “ooh” as in ooh-la-la), I’m less certain about. She is always competing with my Welsummer, Mei, who is the biggest of the four. My gut instinct is that they’re all girls though, but what do I know?

Another thing, Mei’s feet were pink as a chick and are now turning yellow, is this normal? I, for some reason, thought they would be yellow from the beginning. It seems to be the same with Juin, my Dominique as well, but harder to tell with the dark wash on her legs.

Here they are:

Welsummer (Mei)





Dominique (Juin)





Cuckoo Marans (Juillet):





Blue Cuckoo Marans (Août):





I spend a lot of my time in this forum learning and admiring everyone’s beautiful chickens. I’ve been anxiously waiting for my chicks to be old enough so I can post here about them!

 

[SchwartzLakeFarmNC]

I'd say all Pullets for now, I don't see anything screaming Cockerel.
Hopefully other will chime in and confirm.

 

[Winderdear]

I'd say all Pullets for now, I don't see anything screaming Cockerel.
Hopefully other will chime in and confirm.

That's music to my ears, thank you! And thank you for the welcome

 

[Tookie]

Yes, I say all pullets as of now!

For the feet changing color, that's normal as they mature.

 

[The Chick Addict]

They seem to all be pullets right now!

 

[Winderdear]

Yes, I say all pullets as of now!

For the feet changing color, that's normal as they mature.

Yay! Thank you!

I had just assumed they had the wrong foot color because they were hatchery quality or something. Once they started turning yellow I got really confused, lol.

 

[Winderdear]

They seem to all be pullets right now!

Thank you! I hope they stay that way!

 

[Tired old Rooster]

Looking at the saddle feathers, I would say they are all pullets.

 

[Winderdear]

Looking at the saddle feathers, I would say they are all pullets.

Wonderful! Thank you!

 

[Winderdear]

Just updating pics now that they’re 8 weeks old. I think they still all look like pullets. I can’t imagine any of them being boys at this point, but please let me know if you think I have anything to worry about! I’ll keep updating as they grow.

Mei (Welsummer)

Her favorite thing to do is perch on my leg and let me pet her until she falls asleep. I call her “The Lounge” because she prefers to laze about, and is often a pillow for the other girls, lol.

Juin (Dominique)



AKA “Little Rascal”. She gets into everything, and is very curious. She’s tiny compared to the others. Nearly impossible to chase her out of the underbrush when she’s cricket-hunting, that’s for sure!

Juillet (Cuckoo Marans)


Nickname: “Gentle Floof”. She is so fluffy that she gets hot very easily, poor thing. She is not super affectionate, and rather quirky. Very much the type to go her own way and at her own pace. She is extremely gentle when taking treats, never pinching our hands.

Août (Blue Cuckoo Marans)


AKA “Stomping Boots” because she will stomp on the ground with her feathered feet before she runs off to bump beaks and chests with the other girls in challenge. When they all go out to forage and one stray chick gets too far away (nearly always Juin), I’ll call her name (“Juin!”) and Août will come running after her to chase her back to me. It’s like having a tiny sheep dog who lays eggs (hopefully )!