Surprise! I have 5 wee ones

[Caitthechickenfriend]

I found 5 wee ones that look to be about 4 weeks old in a cardboard box when I went outside today. I have 7 hens and a Pekin raised with chicken and thinks she is one. I am looking at my first chicks. They are indoors in a large container (i’m In FL so it’s hot... I suspect someone had roosters and didn’t want them because I see waddles but 2 are huge- are they turkeys? Can anyone tell me the breed and probable gender? My girls now are all laid back. Thanks.

 

[PouleChick]

Hi and Do you mean someone dumped them outside your house??? I'm sorry can't help on gender etc but there were one set of legs that looked enourmous like some pics of meat birds I've seen. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along soon. Some very cute babies you have!

 

[Cyprus]

Yeah all appear to be male. Too much comb at that tender age. They look more like 2-3 weeks based on feather growth.

The black ones are barred rocks. The rest look like either mixed breeds or laying hybrids.

 

[Trux]

the black one looks to be a barred rock IMO

 

[aart]

I found 5 wee ones that look to be about 4 weeks old in a cardboard box when I went outside today.

Do you mean someone dumped them outside your house???

Crazy!! Wants to know more about this part of the story.

I see a couple that are likely males, you'll know in a couple-few weeks by comb color.

 

[Caitthechickenfriend]

Hi and Do you mean someone dumped them outside your house??? I'm sorry can't help on gender etc but there were one set of legs that looked enourmous like some pics of meat birds I've seen. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along soon. Some very cute babies you have!

Crazy!! Wants to know more about this part of the story.

I see a couple that are likely males, you'll know in a couple-few weeks by comb color.

Yes, they were in a box- no food or bedding- by my back door. We have hens so I guess my mystery dumper figured i’d Take them in. I was afraid they were males- figured someone got straight run and didn’t want males. I was afraid the two big ones were not even chickens so that’s good. I live in FL and someone in the ag center said I didn’t need a heat lamp on them but if only 2-3 weeks I worry. They aren’t huddled though. I have docile hens- will a hen raise them or is it too late to imprint?

 

[ShrekDawg]

The bigger ones could simply be a little bit older than the others. And some of them look like hens to me, my Barred Rock always had quite a large comb like that and even a bit of attitude and very curious about everything, even stuff from above, like my hands, so I thought for sure she was a rooster but she turned out to be a hen who just happened to have big combs and wattles and even at 3 years old still does. If you saw her, you may think she was a rooster. But she lays eggs so definitely not. And out of my Buff Orpington, one had tiny almost none existent comb and wattles and of the remaining two, one has more medium sized ones but still not huge, and one of them has huge comb and wattles too but nowhere near as big as the Barred Rock. But still big. But all my birds are hens and all lay eggs. So the traditional “rules” or guidelines of what makes a rooster are not always accurate. They can be helpful if you are on the fence about gender but don’t take it as 100% true or get rid of them early because of it. They only real way to be 100% sure is to wait for them to either crow or lay an egg LOL but of course when they get older, like probably closer to 6 to 8 weeks, or older, then you can definitely start to tell and be a lot more sure if you have roosters or not. So I would wait to see. But I would say that I definitely see at least a few roosters in there but I don’t think all of them are so I say just wait and see.

As for the hens raising them, a hen will not raise chicks unless she is broody which just means that she has been sitting on the nest a lot, not moving from it much if at all, and kind of “pancakes” onto the nest, and some can have a nasty attitude when broody, even sweet hens. It basically just means that they are trying to hatch eggs. So unless they have gone broody, they won’t just adopt and raise chicks and some can actually be quite vicious. And even if they do go broody, they have to be sitting for a few weeks to prove they are dedicated and not going to abandon the nest and that it’s not just a whim before I would give them eggs to hatch or baby chicks. But that said, people have successfully integrated chicks as young as 4 weeks into their flocks and some actually say that it is easier than introducing older chicks 8 weeks and up/similar size adolescents because they are still babies and may possibly be treated better or more gently. But you cannot just throw them together. Not that you would but just warning you that that will not work and could end with somebody hurt or killed. But you can try the see but don’t touch method which basically just means you section off part of your coop and/or run with hardware cloth or chicken wire so that the birds can see each other and start getting used to the new flock members but can’t touch them or hurt them. You could even just put a dog crate in the pen as long as you secure it so the chicks can’t get out and the bigs can’t get in. I would do that for maybe a week or two and see how it goes before trying full integration. You can even put some scratch out along the fence line to start encouraging them to eat/forage together. And when you do try introducing them, you want to add some chick portals in the fence before you allow full integration. Chick portals are exactly what they sound like: basically just chick sized doors that the chicks can fit through but the bigs can’t. This will allow the chicks a place to retreat and escape to in case the big chickens are mean to them or the chicks get scared or tired or whatever. These portals can prevent a lot of problems. I would also round off corners so the chicks can’t get pinned in them and/or trampled. After you do the look with no touch thing and it appears to be going well, then I would try the interaction with portals thing for another couple weeks before removing them. Or you could even try just allowing them limited interaction and then just putting the chicks back in their own area. But I would still do the no touch thing for a while first. But you want to take it very slowly. Even if it seems a little too slow or your hens are gentle, they can act differently with new birds and more aggressive as they sort out the new pecking order so by taking it very slowly, you are keeping the chicks safe. The older chickens don’t see them as cute little babies to nurture like we do, they see them as new flock mates and possible new competition, and a new pecking order always needs to be sorted out and set with any new additions. That said, some birds and roosters are more nurturing than others and will kind of take chicks under their wing so to speak and protect them from the others. But this is not a guarantee and usually happens with their own chicks and/or very young ones rather than random additions or older chicks. But you could have good luck with it. But I would take it extremely slow.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Post pics of their combs in about 3 or 4 weeks, for the gender. I don't see any definite cockerels, yet. Their combs are larger, yes, but nothing is pink/red.

 

[Caitthechickenfriend]

The bigger ones could simply be a little bit older than the others. And some of them look like hens to me, my Barred Rock always had quite a large comb like that and even a bit of attitude and very curious about everything, even stuff from above, like my hands, so I thought for sure she was a rooster but she turned out to be a hen who just happened to have big combs and wattles and even at 3 years old still does. If you saw her, you may think she was a rooster. But she lays eggs so definitely not. And out of my Buff Orpington, one had tiny almost none existent comb and wattles and of the remaining two, one has more medium sized ones but still not huge, and one of them has huge comb and wattles too but nowhere near as big as the Barred Rock. But still big. But all my birds are hens and all lay eggs. So the traditional “rules” or guidelines of what makes a rooster are not always accurate. They can be helpful if you are on the fence about gender but don’t take it as 100% true or get rid of them early because of it. They only real way to be 100% sure is to wait for them to either crow or lay an egg LOL but of course when they get older, like probably closer to 6 to 8 weeks, or older, then you can definitely start to tell and be a lot more sure if you have roosters or not. So I would wait to see. But I would say that I definitely see at least a few roosters in there but I don’t think all of them are so I say just wait and see.

As for the hens raising them, a hen will not raise chicks unless she is broody which just means that she has been sitting on the nest a lot, not moving from it much if at all, and kind of “pancakes” onto the nest, and some can have a nasty attitude when broody, even sweet hens. It basically just means that they are trying to hatch eggs. So unless they have gone broody, they won’t just adopt and raise chicks and some can actually be quite vicious. And even if they do go broody, they have to be sitting for a few weeks to prove they are dedicated and not going to abandon the nest and that it’s not just a whim before I would give them eggs to hatch or baby chicks. But that said, people have successfully integrated chicks as young as 4 weeks into their flocks and some actually say that it is easier than introducing older chicks 8 weeks and up/similar size adolescents because they are still babies and may possibly be treated better or more gently. But you cannot just throw them together. Not that you would but just warning you that that will not work and could end with somebody hurt or killed. But you can try the see but don’t touch method which basically just means you section off part of your coop and/or run with hardware cloth or chicken wire so that the birds can see each other and start getting used to the new flock members but can’t touch them or hurt them. You could even just put a dog crate in the pen as long as you secure it so the chicks can’t get out and the bigs can’t get in. I would do that for maybe a week or two and see how it goes before trying full integration. You can even put some scratch out along the fence line to start encouraging them to eat/forage together. And when you do try introducing them, you want to add some chick portals in the fence before you allow full integration. Chick portals are exactly what they sound like: basically just chick sized doors that the chicks can fit through but the bigs can’t. This will allow the chicks a place to retreat and escape to in case the big chickens are mean to them or the chicks get scared or tired or whatever. These portals can prevent a lot of problems. I would also round off corners so the chicks can’t get pinned in them and/or trampled. After you do the look with no touch thing and it appears to be going well, then I would try the interaction with portals thing for another couple weeks before removing them. Or you could even try just allowing them limited interaction and then just putting the chicks back in their own area. But I would still do the no touch thing for a while first. But you want to take it very slowly. Even if it seems a little too slow or your hens are gentle, they can act differently with new birds and more aggressive as they sort out the new pecking order so by taking it very slowly, you are keeping the chicks safe. The older chickens don’t see them as cute little babies to nurture like we do, they see them as new flock mates and possible new competition, and a new pecking order always needs to be sorted out and set with any new additions. That said, some birds and roosters are more nurturing than others and will kind of take chicks under their wing so to speak and protect them from the others. But this is not a guarantee and usually happens with their own chicks and/or very young ones rather than random additions or older chicks. But you could have good luck with it. But I would take it extremely slow.

Thank you so much.

 

[jolenesdad]

If you haven’t already put them together I would also keep them separate. Someone will pop on here with kinks to quarantine info... but since you don’t know where they’re from I wouldn’t chance it right away.

Not the most convenient I know, but there are people posting almost every day about a new introduction bringing something horrid to the flock.