telling the chipmunk baby breeds apart - when is that possible?

[cityeggs]

I have two chipmunk-feathered chicks that are now almost a month old. One is definitely a Welsummer (and I suspect is a boy - it's the only one who voluntarily comes up and hangs out with me, and in some lights, sometimes looks like the comb is a very pale pink instead of yellow). The other was supposed to be a Bielefelder, BUT the Bielefelders and Cream Legbars were being kept in the same pen (this feed store has some chicks shipped and they keep those separated by breed, but also breeds some of their own and they kept their hatch all together). It was a little chaotic when I was there, and by the time they were ready for me, I was in a time crunch, so I didn't ask a lot of questions, but the manager was the one to pick the chicks out for me, so I trusted that he knew which ones he was picking up (he said something like "let me just make sure this is a Bielefelder and not a Legbar..."). And I didn't expect them to be all together, so I didn't do any research about how to tell them apart beforehand.

I saw some of the head feathers sticking up all of a sudden today on one of them - they didn't seem to just be tousled - I tried petting them down, and they wouldn't budge. Would 4 weeks be about the time a crest would show up??I don't care a ton - I'm just glad I've got one guaranteed girl, after getting a high proportion of boys for the small number of sexed chicks I've gotten so far.

My initial question was when would I be able to tell which one is the Welsummer and which one is the Bielefelder, but this crest seems to make that question moot! I know that Bielefelders have some Welsummer in the breed, so it seems like they might resemble each other for a while. If in the future I get some more, are there ways to tell them apart as chicks?

And, probably more importantly, if I go back to this feed store and decide that I want a Bielefelder in the future, is there a way to tell a Bielefelder girl from a Cream Legbar girl in the first week?? Or do I just call and ask when the breeder will be around and come in then instead of relying on anyone else?

I will try to take some pictures of the two tomorrow - I just never think to bring my phone out to the coop when I'm going to be dealing with chicken poop!

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

Welsummers and Bielefelders will be easy to tell apart if feathered as Bielefelders have barring. Telling them apart from Legbars as day olds would be quite difficult... Bielefelders are a bigger breed I would personally select the stockier chicks for best chance. From what I can see online, Bielefelders seem to have less defined of head triangles and eyeliner compared to Legbars I've raised

 

[cityeggs]

Welsummers and Bielefelders will be easy to tell apart if feathered as Bielefelders have barring. Telling them apart from Legbars as day olds would be quite difficult... Bielefelders are a bigger breed I would personally select the stockier chicks for best chance. From what I can see online, Bielefelders seem to have less defined of head triangles and eyeliner compared to Legbars I've raised

Thank you! I kept looking out for the one with more white spots as they feathered in, but I hadn't really seen a difference between the two, which is probably another sign that this is a CCL rather than a Bielefelder! I wasn't sure quite how much white I would see and how early. And I keep forgetting that that's what barred means (I'm still working on my chicken color lingo).

I wish I had taken photos of their little triangles and eyeliner - I just find chickens so hard to catch a good photo of at any stage! I did read somewhere that Welsummer's eyeliner often turns a different direction than another breed (but it wasn't Bielefelder) - I think it said that Welsummer's line is more likely to turn down than up. It was also confusing bc the Welsummer is a few days older than the others, so once they were all in the same box, I kept thinking the slightly larger chipmunk could either be the older Welsummer, or the larger Bielefelder.

Next time, I will look for a stocky girl in their mixed pen with a messy triangle and sloppy eyeliner Then again, I may just like my CCL and not be interested in a Bielefelder after all! I'm ambivalent about the crest and potential for floppy comb (I tend to like small combs better), but I'm excited about a blue layer and one that has an efficient feed to egg ratio - that was my one concern about a Bielefelder. Well, that and my poor Wyandotte seems to start panting when the weather hits 80F, and I figured the same would be true for another large girl.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Hi. Welcome from New Orleans. We have breeds that pant in our summer heat. I have found a light, fine spray of water in one part of their run and shaded areas help to keep them from over heating. In about 10 years of chicken keeping, I have never lost a chicken to heat exhaustion.
A large, shallow pan of water with ice added when needed also helps, the chickens stand in the cool water and it seems to help cool them down. (this cannot be used if chicks can get to it, as the chicks may drown themselves)

 

[cityeggs]

Hi. Welcome from New Orleans. We have breeds that pant in our summer heat. I have found a light, fine spray of water in one part of their run and shaded areas help to keep them from over heating. In about 10 years of chicken keeping, I have never lost a chicken to heat exhaustion.
A large, shallow pan of water with ice added when needed also helps, the chickens stand in the cool water and it seems to help cool them down. (this cannot be used if chicks can get to it, as the chicks may drown themselves)

Thanks - I do have a shade sail I put up in the summer (and am slowly planting more trees and shrubs for shade), and I put out frozen treats (frozen watermelon, ice cubes with veggie scraps sprinkled in) when it's hot, which doesn't happen too often here. I haven't yet set up a misting system - partly time, partly drought. My main concern with having more chickens who are less heat tolerant is that we're often gone for 2 weeks in the summer, and while our neighbors who take care of ours for us then do also have chickens, I hate asking them to do one more thing when they're watching our chickens for so long! But if they're already doing it for one chicken, it's not like it's more work if there are more of them.

 

[cityeggs]

That little crest is still there and getting more obvious by the day, so it looks pretty certain that I have a CCL and not a Bielefelder.