Yet Another "Do I Have A Roo" question...

[tamraclovw]

Hi All! Yep, here I am - another newb wondering if I got not one but 2 roos! Brief story:

My chickies are now about 12 weeks old - raised from "all female" day old chicks from Meyer. My freebie turned out to be a barred rock. "She" looks similar to my other, older barreds, except lighter in color. Also, "she" tried to mount a larger and older chicken twice today. No sign of spurs yet, or differing head.

Also, I got 4 Jersey Giants. 3 are smaller, have lighter skin/less feathers on their head, and always stay together. The 4th is larger, and goes anywhere "she" pleases. No sign of spurs yet, but head feathering is much thicker and looks all black, no skin showing around eyes.

Any ideas? When do spurs appear? If I do have 2 roos, will 1 coop and 19 females be enough to keep them both occupied, or will I need to cull one? They are day-time free range, if that might help.

Thanks all!!

 

[tamraclovw]

Found this here - http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-tell-sex-of-chicks.html

Barred Rocks and Cuckoo Marans - Males have wider white barring. They will often appear more silvery-grey than black.

My Barred would definitely be called silver/gray...

 

[speckledhen]

You need to post pictures of them or we can't tell you.

Spurs don't show up until a rooster is well over six months of age, closer to ten months.


Pssst, bumping your own thread is against BYC rules; what you should have done is added that information to the first post.

 

[featherz]

Any ideas? When do spurs appear? If I do have 2 roos, will 1 coop and 19 females be enough to keep them both occupied, or will I need to cull one? They are day-time free range, if that might help.

Thanks all!!

As speckled said, spurs are not a good way to tell. My 1 year old roo barely has any spurs. But if you DO have two roos, you can probably get away with that ratio as long as the roos get along. You need to post pics when you can, then we can tell you.

 

[tamraclovw]

Thanks! I wasnt trying to bump, it was only 5 minutes later - I didn't think of editing my other post...

I will try to get pics, but they look nearly identical to the hens. I'll see what I can get this morning!