Update on my 27 Barred Rocks peeps...with pictures.

[paganfish]

Sorry if the pictures are too big. I have no way of minimizing them. I need to download a different program. I hope you get to see them.

Just wanted to update everyone on the 27 peeps that made it. They are now on their 3rd week and boy are they HUGE! I can't believe how much they've grown! Here are a few pictures.

Here is one I call "Follow the leader". They've taken to roosting on the edge of the brooder's rim. It's funny to open the door and have them all sitting on there like birds on a wire. LOL!

They make more of a mess the older they get. I will have to do some massive cleaning today. Oh boy!

When I got them 3 weeks ago my hand would swallow them--easily. Not so now...but, boy are they tame! They will jump on my hand if I stick down there in the brooder. While some will peck at my ring (shiny object on thumb) others will jump on my opened hand and crowd there.

Notice how they do the sideways LOOKY LOO? They do that ALL the time. It's funny! I didn't know BRs could be so entertaining!

This one looks like a feathered Velociraptor, don't it?

Peace-

Pedro

 

[Buster]

Cool pics pagan- I didn't realize that they started getting feathers so fast. How soon before you can put them outside?

 

[jeaucamom]

Chickies are THE best entertainment!!! That second pictures looks like it could be a "where's waldo" picture. They all look the same!! How in heavens name are you going to be able to tell 27 clones apart???

They are really adorable!

 

[paganfish]

Hey Jarred-

Thanks! My RS didn't get their feathers until like a month old. I think it might have to do with them getting here when it was so cold and their bodies kicking in? A sort of survival thing? Just guessing here... :|

I think I will wait until late March before I put them outside. I think, by then, their feathers will be all out. Or that's the idea.

I can't wait to have them outside on their own...they sure make a mess of that brooder!

Thanks Jeaucamom - I don't intend on telling them apart. The whole reason for getting them is to process the roos (got str8 run) when their time came (Late Summer?) and the hens...at like 2 years. They are worming their way into my heart...so it might be more challenging than I thought.

 

[hsm5grls]

HEY pagan,
Any guesses as to how many roo's you got yet? I am kinda curious as you got a straight run. Someday I am hoping to process my own chickens and was just wondering what you hen to roo ratio was. I understand that every order would be slightly different but I am curious.

By the way you have some cute chickies. I can see how you could get attached. Good thinking getting all the same kind, less chances of naming and falling in love with them.

 

[paganfish]

Quote:
No, I have no idea how many are roos--yet. I am no good at that anyway. The BR that I got last Summer...I thought was a hen. Turned out to be a rooster! It's really hard to tell with them until they are like 6 months old, I think? Or...it is for me. Is there a way to tell cockrels from pullets at early age? Anyone?

Yeah that was the premise for getting all ONE breed. However, I didn't think they be ALL so cute and friendly like.

 

[speckledhen]

Here's something that may be helpful:

Historical Document
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station

SEX IDENTIFICATION IN PUREBREDS
BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS

It had long been recognized that the size of the light head
spots in Barred Plymouth Rocks varied in the two sexes. The
males tend to have larger headspots and the females to have
darker colored legs. However, this method has not been sufficiently
accurate to be of much commercial value.
Quinn and Knox (1939) attempted to separate the sexes of
Barred Plymouth Rocks by means of the intensity of the black
pigment in the down and legs. In different lots of chicks they
report 83.5, 86.1 and 91.8 percent accuracy.
Jerome (1939) describes a method of sex identification in
Barred Plymouth Rocks based upon the regularity of the outline
of the head spot rather than the size of the spot. Those chicks
having headspots irregular in outline and scattered in appearance
are males while the females tend to have headspots with
more regular outlines. The author claimed an accuracy of 90
percent or better when considering only the headspot and 95
percent if the color of the legs was included in the consideration.
The Canadian Department of Agriculture (Anonymous 1941)​