What Breed and Genders do you think we have?

[Laxeybobby]

Greetings from the Isle of Man

About ten weeks ago my wife and visited the MSPCA (Rescue Center) and fell for a Hen and six chicks that were found wandering along a busy road.

When we bought them home they looked like this;

Mother.

Mother with Chicks

Now the chicks look like this;

I think these two are Cockerals as they are taller than the mother and their main tail and sickles are more horizontal. Also one as a metalic shiny patch under its ear. Plus they both have large combs compared to the mother and three of the other chicks.

I think the one at the back is a Cockeral, smaller than the two above, it also has this has a larger comb?

And mother hen looks like this;

We would be really greatfull if anyone could give us an idea of what breed (or cross breed) they may be, so we can figure out if they will be good egg providers.
And we would be even more gratefull if anyone could give us an idea on gender or some advice on how to recognise the gender. I personally feel we have three cockerals and three hens from the chicks, but I will happilty change my opinion from advice given.

Thanks for helping newbies.

 

[Matt A NC]

Look game mixes. I see at least 3 boys.

Matt

 

[Dustin Biery]

As Matt said, look like Hatch game crosses.

 

[Chris09]

I agree with Mat and Dustin.

Chris

 

[Laxeybobby]

Wow, thanks for the speedy responses.

We had bought a couple of chicken keeping beginer books and couldn't positively identify the breed so thanks for that.

Was i right in how I identified the males? Larger Combs, larger than mother, etc or is there another way to identify them?

Lastly the hens of this cross breed - would they be good layers?

Sorry about all the questions but having read so many books and still non the wiser, I am so glad we found this forum.

 

[chickenlover54]

Quote:
yep

 

[Dustin Biery]

Looks like they are mostly black breasted reds in their coloring, few that aren't but if you look up OEGB and look for Black breasted reds (BBR) you will see the difference in the colors (male vs female)

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
Yup, the two pics you labeled were cockerels are. And the one below the black pullet is a cockerel too.. Rest are all pullets.

 

[Matt A NC]

Games are fair layers, but do not lay in the winter. They are mostly known for being really great mothers and protective of their young. They are very hardy everywhere.

Males have a tendency to be mean towards to each other, but normally fairly good towards people.

Matt

 

[Laxeybobby]

Thanks to you all for imparting your knowledge. We are really gratefull to you all.

Quote:
Matt A NC - thanks for answering my other question. We have had no eggs yet, but I put this down to them being somewhere around 15 weeks old and mother hen being too busy raising her young to worry about laying, but your comment about not laying in winter has taught us something.

So with three males in the flock what are our options with them?
My wife states it would be hard to find three of them a home as people dont want males and we couldnt use them to breed as they are related.
We have neighbours that would probably and very quickly become annoyed when they begin their dawn chorus

Is there a correct time to remove them from the flock?