Sunshine Flock
Crowing
We moved to Redding from Livermore four years ago. 
Since you can't have a rooster, do you have options available to you to re-home one in case one of your darling pullets turns out to be a boy? It's a heart breaking but common experience.
One option is to choose a breed that can be sexed as soon as the chicks are hatched. It's not 100% accurate by any means and often depends on how well the hatchery maintains the breeding stock. Sex links and Welsummers could work well for you.
The sad part is what happens to the ones that are hatched as roosters. So perhaps raising a boy for a while and then re-homing him would be something to consider. They usually don't start crowing until they're four months old.
Of course, my boy was an advanced learner and did his first crow when he was two months old.
Since you can't have a rooster, do you have options available to you to re-home one in case one of your darling pullets turns out to be a boy? It's a heart breaking but common experience.
One option is to choose a breed that can be sexed as soon as the chicks are hatched. It's not 100% accurate by any means and often depends on how well the hatchery maintains the breeding stock. Sex links and Welsummers could work well for you.
The sad part is what happens to the ones that are hatched as roosters. So perhaps raising a boy for a while and then re-homing him would be something to consider. They usually don't start crowing until they're four months old.
Of course, my boy was an advanced learner and did his first crow when he was two months old.
Happy
to have you join the family. Enjoy your time here at BYC! 
