Pullets & Roos or all Pullets?

[dharmasister]

I bought these four australorps on the same day from a feed store. They were a couple of weeks old. The kids that were working there said they were all four pullets. They were all the same size and feathered out exactly the same. I assumed they all hatched out together. Well, two of them have developed much more quickly and started sporting beautiful combs so I started thinking I had two roos and two hens. Then I saw an earlier post of two austrlorps that look just like mine with the combs and everyone agreed they were pullets. Now I'm unsure of what I've got, two hens that are getting close to laying and two that are late bloomers, or do I have two cockerels and two pullets?

 

[Mountain Peeps]

I bought these four australorps on the same day from a feed store. They were a couple of weeks old. The kids that were working there said they were all four pullets. They were all the same size and feathered out exactly the same. I assumed they all hatched out together. Well, two of them have developed much more quickly and started sporting beautiful combs so I started thinking I had two roos and two hens. Then I saw an earlier post of two austrlorps that look just like mine with the combs and everyone agreed they were pullets. Now I'm unsure of what I've got, two hens that are getting close to laying and two that are late bloomers, or do I have two cockerels and two pullets?The one closest to us is a female



The one closest to us is male

Female

Male

Both males

Both Male

Female

Male

Male

These last two are female

 

[Basskids08]

Moutain peeps is correct, 2 pullets and 2 cockerels!

 

[BantamLover21]

Moutain peeps is correct, 2 pullets and 2 cockerels!

x2

 

[dharmasister]

Dang! In the other girl's thread her australorps looked exactly like mine that y'all are calling roos. She ended up taking them back to the feed store and everyone told her that she took back a couple of beautiful pullets that were getting close to laying. I gave my sister the two with less developed combs believing they were just further from laying. Now I don't know what to think. If the two I kept are roos I'll be taking these out to her farm as well.

 

[cassbickford]

How old are they all supposed to be? The two "cockerels" do have much larger combs and wattles then the others of the same age, but their body shape and legs still look pullet to me.

 

[dharmasister]

Well, I picked them all up on April 23rd. I assumed they were all the same age because they were pretty close in size and feathering. The owner of the feed store I go to wasn't in at the moment and she had two teenagers working in her place and they really knew nothing. So they could all be around 8 weeks or not. I ordered some chicks from Murray McMurray. I ordered all pullets so I shouldn't have to do the guessing game with them. Not that it's bad, it's kinda fun! Just hate to have to rehome birds I've fallen in love with.

 

[donrae]

That's where age is key. At 8 weeks, that much comb is a cockerel. If the bird were say 16+ weeks, it would likely be a pullet reaching point of lay. You can't compare different ages as there's so much development from month one to month 5-6.

 

[Table4Six]

Well, I picked them all up on April 23rd. I assumed they were all the same age because they were pretty close in size and feathering. The owner of the feed store I go to wasn't in at the moment and she had two teenagers working in her place and they really knew nothing. So they could all be around 8 weeks or not. I ordered some chicks from Murray McMurray. I ordered all pullets so I shouldn't have to do the guessing game with them. Not that it's bad, it's kinda fun! Just hate to have to rehome birds I've fallen in love with.

Actually vent sexing is only 90 to 95% accurate, I got a supposedly "female" Barred Rock and it turned out to be a boy

( he has since been re-homed).

 

[dharmasister]

That's where age is key. At 8 weeks, that much comb is a cockerel. If the bird were say 16+ weeks, it would likely be a pullet reaching point of lay. You can't compare different ages as there's so much development from month one to month 5-6.

ain't that the truth!!! I can't believe how much the day olds have changed in the past 5 weeks. It's been years since I had chickens and I had forgotten how quickly they mature. Is it possible that two could have been around 4 weeks and two around 6-8 weeks? Once they get their feathers it's mostly just size growth and combs developing isn't it? Or is it just wishful thinking?