Sexing and the great outdoors

[cami]

how old will my chicks be before the roosters start crowing? Mine are 5 weeks right now and im pretty sure they are all pullets, so i want to get a rooster, but i wouldent want to end up with 2 roosters and only 6 pullets.
How old should they be when they go outside for good? Mine have all there feathers are 5 weeks old like i said before and are comfortable being outside for long periods of time. Are they ok to start living outside?

 

[CrystalWho]

as long as it's not to cold I'm pretty sure they will be fine outside, as long as you have a good coop and proper fencing.

I'm not sure about the crowing but my guess is that my little silkie started crowing between 3 and 6 months. It may very between types of chickens I'm not sure.

 

[Dingo]

I've heard of some bantams crowing at 4 weeks old. I think the norm is several months old though.

 

[chkinut]

my chicks have been outside for about a week now, 24/7 and they are only 3 weeks old. they have had no problems at all. i just didn't keep the heat on them for the last day or 2 (in the house) before i put them outside.

 

[BlazeJester]

I have 5-6wk old chicks outside right now. They seem to be fine (first batch outside this early due to timing with the others).

My araucana boy just started crowing at right around 4 months. I have heard that some start practicing at 2 weeks, while others wait until many more months. If you have a DOMINANT roo, the others may not crow at all. My neighbor got rid of his roo and all of a sudden, one of his *girls* started crowing