When I will find out my pullets are really pullets

about a month? two?

 

Haha - I bought four out of the straight run bin and they are all girls. What are the odds? As for telling girls or boys, if they are sex-linked, you can tell immediately if they are boys or girls. For Barred Rocks, it is pretty easy to tell boys from girls early on. For most other breeds, 4-5 weeks is when it gets easier to tell. However sometimes a roo will develop a pink comb and be an obvious roo even by 2-3 weeks.

 

Mine are 6 weeks old and I'm still having trouble figuring it out.

 

I can tell mine with good accuracy at about 4 weeks of age. EEs are the only ones that I have trouble with.

 

Of my first hatch, now 5 weeks old, I am sure one is a pullet, one a roo and the remaining 4 I just can't tell. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I too have pulled out the pullets from the straight run bin at the feed store- they were cheaper. I'm sure the store employees thought I was crazy, as did my kids, but they were sex-links. I just couldn't get through to them that I was sure about what I was getting.

 

I bought mine from a feed store and was told they were all pullets. Well, my one 6 week old Silver Lace Wyandotte has a waddle so long now that it flaps. But there are still things that make me think pullet (legs the same thickness as the others etc). Someone in that brooder is making a sound like a squeaky gate. I might as well face it I got me a roo.

I'm still not 100% sure about the others and I have another batch of three week olds coming up. So far they all seem to be pullets.

 

When they lay an egg, or crow! That seems to be the consensus for most chickens! I'm still up in the air about my Barred Rock. No signs of crowing yet- but still way too young for an egg! Its all a big waiting game! But worth every minute!

Also- I have thought about the "day olds" thing. I don't think they are all day olds. I'm not 100% sure on how hatcheries work- but if the eggs go into lockdown on day 18 of incubation like we do at home, some eggs hatch earlier than others, some later.. then combine that with shipping.. I think possibly some chicks could be a day or two, maybe 3? This is just my brain thinking of this, cause some of my chicks seem to just "look" older by a day or two- the others catch up!