Receiving roosters with a "Pullet Only" order.

[Pixie]

My second order of chicks (Barred Rocks) are 3 1/2 weeks old. Today when I went to the brooder to change the water and fill up the feed, I noticed that at least 6 of my "girls" are developing a red comb!!

I am going to wait until the end of the week and separate them out to count them but I did not get 'extras' with my order.

Is there a nice way to go about getting the hatchery to credit me (as I paid the Pullet Only prices).

Also, I did not know what I will do with them, or how early I should be separating them. I do not want fertilized eggs.

They are feisty little buggers.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'd say 3.5 weeks is way too early to detect sex in Plymouth rocks.
I'd go online or call the hatchery now and inquire about their policy. Then if they do end up being cockerels, you'll already have a course of action.
There's no difference between a fertile and an infertile egg for eating purposes. You won't be able to tell the difference.
No development will occur unless you incubate them.
http://www.edencsd.org/Page/1496

ETA
Are they bantams? Bantams are extremely difficult to vent sex.

 

[song of joy]

Depending on the particular strain of barred rock, you may be able to sex them by 3 to 4 weeks of age.

I purchased four, day-old barred rock chicks this year from a breeder. By 3 weeks of age, it was very easy to tell that 2 were females and 1 was a male. I wasn't sure about the other chick until it was about 7 weeks old. Males will look much whiter than females, as they carry a double gene for white barring. Males will look like white chicks with black barring, while females will appear much darker - like black chicks with white barring. The degree of barring is most obvious if you look at them from a distance (10-15 feet) rather than really close-up. Also, the comb on male chicks will begin to turn red by 4 to 5 weeks old. If your 3.5 week old chicks are already getting reddish combs, they're probably males.

Just curious, which hatchery are these from?

 

[Pixie]

I'd say 3.5 weeks is way too early to detect sex in Plymouth rocks.
I'd go online or call the hatchery now and inquire about their policy. Then if they do end up being cockerels, you'll already have a course of action.
There's no difference between a fertile and an infertile egg for eating purposes. You won't be able to tell the difference.
No development will occur unless you incubate them.
http://www.edencsd.org/Page/1496

ETA
Are they bantams? Bantams are extremely difficult to vent sex.

They are regular sized, not bantams.

 

[Pixie]

I got this batch from Estes Hatchery. They are all healthy, one died last week, but it never got larger than a 1 weeker.

 

[donrae]

Can you post pics of the birds?

 

[Pixie]

Can you post pics of the birds?

Hi, Sorry I did not see the post (I forgot to subscribe)

Here are the bulk of them, I am counting about 16 of them. (p.s. sorry for the mess, they aregoing to the coop VERY soon!)

 

[song of joy]

Yup. The cockerels look much lighter than the pullets and are developing a red comb. The clearest example in the photo is the one perched up high, right next to the waterer.

 

[dheltzel]

Hi, Sorry I did not see the post (I forgot to subscribe)

Here are the bulk of them, I am counting about 16 of them. (p.s. sorry for the mess, they aregoing to the coop VERY soon!)

Yup, you have a lot of males in there, all the lighter colored ones. I think they sent you straight-runs, not sexed chicks, or else their sexers are really bad at their job.

Most hatcheries have a policy of refunding the difference in price between the male and female chicks. I realize that they are running a business, but I think that's a bad policy, even refunding the whole purchase price doesn't begin to make up for the fact that you've fed and housed birds that are now a problem to get rid of. And getting rid of young males this time of year may be quite hard unless you are willing to just kill them yourself.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Did you get extra birds to your order? When hatcheries are not told "don't send extra birds" they will stuff orders with males and declare they do so for added warmth. They have a hard time getting rid of male birds too so use that method of over filling orders for free with male chicks.

If you received the number of birds you ordered then yes, they sent straight run and need to credit you.