What breeds and genders are these critters?

[kaddidle]

I have one eight-week old chick that I'm pretty sure is a White Plymouth Rock pullet, one six week old that I'm pretty sure is a Production Red pullet, and one six week old mystery chick that I think is an EE and I suspect might be a roo. Can anyone help me confirm or deny these suspicions?

The whole gang:

The suspected pullets:

The suspected roo:

 

[LindsayB]

I believe you are right

 

[kaddidle]

I wonder how likely it is that the little EE could possibly be a hen? I can't have roosters where I live and will need to rehome it as soon as it proves not to be a hen. It's not a friendly bird and wouldn't be a good pet; I'd be content to give it to someone who could fatten it up and eat it. The red is an absolute sweetie and runs right up to be picked up and petted. I got the two at the same time and raised them together but their personalities are drastically different. The EE squawks and runs away if I look at it and tends to bother the other chicks.

 

[LindsayB]

The EE is definitely a little boy and will probably be very pretty. I wish my PR was as friendly as yours. Mine is a witch. She hates to be touched, picked up, anything lol.

 

[kaddidle]

Mine is a totally lovey sweetheart. I didn't even give her a particularly large amount of attention when she was younger. It's like she just, of her own accord, decided that being the friendliest to humans got her the best treats first and thought it was worth it.

Here she is hanging out with me and being cute:

Are chickens any good to eat when they're really young and haven't been fattened up for eating? I'm not sure what to do with my EE potential roo. My worst fear is that I'll sell him cheap or give him away and he'll wind up going to someone who fights chickens. Apparently that's apparently prevalent around here. Everyone I know who's an ethical farmer already has too many roos. I definitely can't keep him once he starts crowing, though.

 

[chickaddict]

He probably won't start crowing til about 4 ot 5 months old. By then he will be big enough. I ended up with 3 roosters last year and decided they were better off as dinner then fighters. It was a hard decision to make, because if I just gave them away I would always have wondered what became of them.

So they became dinner in the order of who crowed first.

 

[kaddidle]

Thanks for the advice. If he was nice to people, or to the other chickens, I would try very hard to do something different, and I'll still keep looking for someone who wants a pretty rooster, but I don't have very high hopes for this one. If he surprised me and laid a pretty egg, I'd change my tune.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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