What are the chances!?!?

[Babnboots]

In May I got my first six chicks at a local feed store. The worker randomly grabbed chicks out of the dozens in the pen. I noticed in time that three were roos. We moved those roos a couple days ago and today one of the remainders began crowing. I just wanted eggs, how in the world did I end up with four roos out of six chicks!!! Geez

 

[CluckerFamily]

What breed did you choose?

 

[SueT]

Chicks are usually sold sexed or straight run. Were yours sold as sexed pullets? Straight run are supposed to be 50% males, but many have reported closer to 100%. Apparently it's a common way to get rid of extra males, by selling them as straight run.

 

[Babnboots]

I choose pairs of Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, and Barred Rock. The BR are my only gals.

 

[Babnboots]

They were non-sexed. I knew the chance of getting a roo was possible but certainly didn't expect 4 buggers!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Recommend getting your future chicks from a hatchery directly and ordering sexed pullets. You’ll have about a 90% chance of having females this way. Good luck!

 

[britesidefarm]

If your curious about the genders, post pictures. Usually people just get chicks out of the straight run box not thinking about what straight run means.

 

[Aapomp831]

However many roosters you don’t want, expect triple of that. Sex linked pullets are the only way to go if you don’t want roosters.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Red & black sex links ARE the way to go to guarrantee pullets. But of the 3 breeds u chose, there are subtle color differences between male & female day old chicks. Google "barred rock day old chick difference male & female", "buff orpington """", & "rhode island red """" . This is true of some other breeds too. But u gotta be there when the straight run chicks first arrive at feed store, before someone who knows the above color/pattern sexing tricks gets there and picks out the pullets before you do! Of your 3 breeds, the barred rocks will tend to show most obvious (tho still subtle) difference. Knowing the subtle differences will raise your chances of getting pullets.

 

[cluckingheck]

I feel this. When I first got my chickens back in March, most of them were straight runs except for my 5 ISA Brown pullets ( those were guaranteed ). Out of my 6 leghorns, 6 were roosters. Out of 6 Black Australorps, 3 were roosters. Out of 4 Barred Rocks, 3 were roosters ( and 2 roos ended up not even being BRs ). Buying straight runs is definitely a huge gamble. I’m able to keep roosters, so it wasn’t too much of an issue and they’ve all been real friendly except for the leghorn roos ( unfortunately, they had to be sent to freezer camp. way too mean ).