Trill - Alyssa's First Chicken

[AlyssaK]

So I got this chick because my friends had 4 hens (they thought) and then one of them was obviously a roo (told them and they were like nawwwwwwwww. Well .... Yup. lol.) and so when they got a fertile egg, they decided to hatch it to let their 4 kids see that whole process.

Then when it got too big ... they asked if I wanted it cuz I'd been talking about getting chickens this spring. Was a little early (I wasn't going to get any bird until I was fully set up for them, so I had to scramble a little bit lol), but when it was about 3 weeks old - it became my little sassy bird.


And OH is it sassy. It is either totally a rooster (has the 'tude) or it is gonna be one bossy pushy hen. lol. I've had folks tell me definitively that it is a rooster 100% or a pullet 100%. I didn't really want a rooster - but either way we will keep it (we are in the city, but everyone around us has a rooster - we love hearing them all crow - so one more isn't going to be noticeable) unless it proves to be a nasty roo. But I am hopingggggggg it will not be an issue and that Trill will turn out to be a hen. hee!


Okay so I have a few pics ... this is approx. 8 weeks old ...

Front view ... the comb is red, but I keep finding folks saying that their hen's combs are redder than this, so I'm still undecided.

Side view of backside and tail while roosting. Is that the red on the shoulders that I hear so many folks say only roosters get?

Top view of back to get a better look at the feathers on the shoulders/back ... is that the "roo red" shoulder feathers?

Profile shot while getting it to focus on food in hand:

Another standing perched shot:

Soooo love to see what folks call it as being now ... I kinda think it will be fun to see who has that coveted "eye" on sexing the wee things!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I don't know if Trill is roo or hen, but I like the name you chose. That's one cute bird!

 

[AlyssaK]

Awww we think so too. I thought trill worked because it likes to "talk" at us and to itself and it has this cute little trilling cheep when it really gets going.

It was going OFF today - long extended trilling chirps - so not sure but today it might have decided to try finding it's crow.

Either that - or it was putting up a major fuss because we've been taking it out of the bathroom and outside into the yard by like 8 or 9 in the morning upon which it gets fed breakfast and we got sidetracked today and didnt take it out and feed it until like noon - he said as soon as it saw the scratch food bag, it got even louder and more trilly so *maybe* it was more yelling to be fed than it was trying to learn how to crow ... lol.

Anyways, it ought to have company soon - got two pullets (for SURE) lined up to come and keep it company ... they are 3 weeks behind it of course, so they wont be able to all hang out directly with each other until they are of equal size, but I have two runs now, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[AlyssaK]

Though if it is a roo, we might have to do something - as I don't want it to breed with the two pullets we'll be getting.

Really is too bad that you can't just fix a roo - so you could keep one as a guardian but not have to worry about fertilized eggs.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Trill looks like an Easter-egger to me, and a boy for sure if that's the case. My EE boys started crowing at about the same age.

Why are you worried about having fertilized eggs? You do know that there's absolutely no difference in taste and barely any difference in appearance between fertilized and unfertilized eggs, right? You can still eat them even if they're fertilized, and if you don't leave them out in 90-degree weather for days at a time, you won't have to worry about anything developing in them. You'll probably never know which are fertilized unless you look up the difference.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

X2 We have roosters, but I just collect the eggs and eat them. We don't have chicks unless we let the hens sit on the eggs.

 

[AlyssaK]

Ohh I did not know that about the eggs!

And yup, Trill is indeed an EE.

 

[NovaAman]

Hi Alyssa! See, I am still undecided... My 2 ee pullets loos so much like Trill... Forgot to ask, but what are the new pullets going to be?

 

[AlyssaK]

I have a blue orpington pullet and a splash orpington pullet that will be shipped as soon as the breeder gets NPIP paperwork in so that they can send it with the pullets, so probably like in about 2 weeks they will get here - and I think they are 5-6 weeks right now and Trill is at approx. 9 weeks.

Took a couple of new pics of Trill outside - trying to get a "tail up" pic of it ...








Then decided to grab a quickie short little vid of it ...

 

[NovaAman]

Trill is a boy. See where I circled and pointed at... those are the starts of saddles...