What path should I take?

[joeyfender]

So right now I have 8 chicks. I don't know the gender of any of them. Two are 4 weeks old and 6 are 2 weeks old. I am almost finished building my coop that will hold about 10 chickens. I mainly wanted to get chickens for eggs which means no roos for a while until I'm ready. I have 3 buff orps, 3 Ameraucaunas, 1 RIR, and 1 BJG. Im guessing I will have very little or almost no chickens when I find out the genders. What do you all sugghest I do? Like what breeds should I look at and what should I think about doing? Thanks!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

The breeds you want depend on what you're looking for. Since you mention egg layers, I'm guessing production is important to you. Breeds like Leghorns, Sexlinks (which can be sexed as day olds- BONUS), ect are known for excellent egg production. You could also order from a hatchery if you plan to buy more chicks after you know who your roosters are. Getting point of lay pullets would be another option, and their more easily obtained this time of year.
As far as the rooster, I eat mine. If that doesn't float your boat, you could try Craigslist. I go this route with my ornamental bantams since there's not much point in processing them. I've never really had an issue getting rid of excess boys, and since spring means breeding seasom- you may be able to get rid of them fairly easily too. Good luck!

 

[joeyfender]

The breeds you want depend on what you're looking for. Since you mention egg layers, I'm guessing production is important to you. Breeds like Leghorns, Sexlinks (which can be sexed as day olds- BONUS), ect are known for excellent egg production. You could also order from a hatchery if you plan to buy more chicks after you know who your roosters are. Getting point of lay pullets would be another option, and their more easily obtained this time of year.
As far as the rooster, I eat mine. If that doesn't float your boat, you could try Craigslist. I go this route with my ornamental bantams since there's not much point in processing them. I've never really had an issue getting rid of excess boys, and since spring means breeding seasom- you may be able to get rid of them fairly easily too. Good luck!

How old do the boys have to be to be able to be processed? My expectations will be at least 5 roos and I don't have the space to store all of them...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

For best weight you can process them at 20 weeks. After that they really grow slowly so it just makes for a lot of feed for little gain. I'm hatching so many chicks this year I plan to cull a bunch of cockerels for 4th of July weekend grilling. At 13 weeks they'll be dressed out the size of Cornish Game Hen.

The Easter Eggers, your Americauna, are harder to sex but your other single comb birds will be easy to sex starting about 5 weeks. The males will start growing out wattles and comb by that age. Red in color. The female combs will stay pale until they are near laying age and they grow out wattles at 12 weeks-ish.