WannabeHomsteader
In the Brooder
- Jun 8, 2025
- 35
- 47
- 43
Hey y'all, I live "in town" and need some advice on what to do with all my birds. Here's the deal:
I have 2 ex-commercial hens, both about 2yo. I believe they're ISA browns. They have had multiple problems with laying complications (I started with 4 hens, lost one to prolapse, another to egg binding, in 6mo, and one surviving hen has egg binding history). So in May I went to TSC and got my first-ever set of chicks: 8 unsexed bantam chicks. I had the tentative plan to replace my ISA browns. I am allowed by ordinance to keep 6 hens and no roosters, so I thought 8 would give me some wiggle room if I ended up with a couple roosters. Perhaps this was a bad idea, given that they also had sexed breeds there for sale....but I felt like bantams would be a great fit for what I wanted, so I took the chance.
Well, my chicks are now 7-8 wks, and judging by the spiky hairstyles and all the itty-bitty chest bumping happening, it appears that at least 5 of them are cockerels. The jury is still mostly out on one (the brown partridge cochin pictured here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/6-week-bantam-pair-breed-and-gender.1667536/). Feel free to weigh in.
One of the two probably-pullets has some weird swelling on her head, which I have been trying to treat, but not getting anywhere (she's pictured here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-6wk-pullet-what-is-it.1667143/#post-28657533). She doesn't act like she feels awful, so I'm waiting to see what happens, but I understand it might turn into something I can't fix.
This means I have ONE healthy confirmed pullet out of the whole 8. I have considered starting over from scratch and getting new (sexed) chicks, but I really don't want to. It feels like so much work down the drain. But I can't keep the roosters anyway. I plan to at least wait to "do something" until I hear crowing and confirm all this rooster-y nonsense.
So my question is....what would you do, if you were in my shoes? Keep my ISAs and wait till next spring? Look for other laying hens to purchase? Start over with bantams, or even a sexed breed? Attempt integration with 1-3 bantams and 2 standard hens?
I am open to suggestions.
I have 2 ex-commercial hens, both about 2yo. I believe they're ISA browns. They have had multiple problems with laying complications (I started with 4 hens, lost one to prolapse, another to egg binding, in 6mo, and one surviving hen has egg binding history). So in May I went to TSC and got my first-ever set of chicks: 8 unsexed bantam chicks. I had the tentative plan to replace my ISA browns. I am allowed by ordinance to keep 6 hens and no roosters, so I thought 8 would give me some wiggle room if I ended up with a couple roosters. Perhaps this was a bad idea, given that they also had sexed breeds there for sale....but I felt like bantams would be a great fit for what I wanted, so I took the chance.
Well, my chicks are now 7-8 wks, and judging by the spiky hairstyles and all the itty-bitty chest bumping happening, it appears that at least 5 of them are cockerels. The jury is still mostly out on one (the brown partridge cochin pictured here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/6-week-bantam-pair-breed-and-gender.1667536/). Feel free to weigh in.
One of the two probably-pullets has some weird swelling on her head, which I have been trying to treat, but not getting anywhere (she's pictured here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-6wk-pullet-what-is-it.1667143/#post-28657533). She doesn't act like she feels awful, so I'm waiting to see what happens, but I understand it might turn into something I can't fix.
This means I have ONE healthy confirmed pullet out of the whole 8. I have considered starting over from scratch and getting new (sexed) chicks, but I really don't want to. It feels like so much work down the drain. But I can't keep the roosters anyway. I plan to at least wait to "do something" until I hear crowing and confirm all this rooster-y nonsense.
So my question is....what would you do, if you were in my shoes? Keep my ISAs and wait till next spring? Look for other laying hens to purchase? Start over with bantams, or even a sexed breed? Attempt integration with 1-3 bantams and 2 standard hens?
I am open to suggestions.
