roosters or hens?

[mxpres]

my RIRs are 8 weeks old now,bought as straight run,now I have six that are colored exactly like me gold comets,the other six are a deep dark red,the darker ones have combs that are real red and larger than the others,they were sold as straight run.could the lighter ones be new hamshire reds,they don,t look at all like the other six,they look like gold comets,,bought at TSC,,,

 

[faykokoWV]

Pictures will probably help people figure it out. Can you post some?

 

[Judy]

TSC is well known for mixing up chicks. Customers do it, if the employees don't, and the employees typically don't know which chicks belong where. The lighter ones could be any number of things. They could even be hatchery RIR's. (All yours are hatchery chicks as that is what TSC sells.) Hatcheries do some outbreeding to maintain production and their RIR's do not conform to the breed standard.

I have some hatchery black australorps, crowing and mating, with some brown feathers, just as an example.

 

[mxpres]

I am raising the reds for meat and eggs,I won,t be buying chicks from tractor supply again simply because of their quality of care they give the chicks,I don,t know how the other stores are in caring for their chicks but here in our store it was disgusting to see what kind of condition they allowed the tanks to be in,,the waterers were filled with shavings and dead and sick chicks still in the tank..in small card board boxes that were of no help..im sure all the stores do not allow such conditions to happen,,,