What am I?

[Little Roughian]

What kind of chicken is this? and or is it a boy or girl? I'm very curious as we have 2 hens (one white, and one black) who look like this. The black hen laid an egg that another hen hatched for her. This little one arrived and we quickly knew it didn't belong. (Sorry the pics are terrible... Trying to get a pic of these guys is a pain.... tried at night when they came inside to roost)


This is mom... What kind is she?





This little on is my chickie in question: boy or girl? What kind are they?

 

[galanie]

The mom appears to be some sort of Polish or Spitzen mix. Hard to know for sure what it is other than it's likely a mix. How old is the chickie?

 

[Little Roughian]

The mom appears to be some sort of Polish or Spitzen mix. Hard to know for sure what it is other than it's likely a mix. How old is the chickie?

The little one is about 8 wks. I can't find my calendar! The other chicks are very apparent on boy girl. 3 Girls, 1 roo (he started crowing about 2 wks ago, terrible baby crows), than theres this little one. I'll have to look up those breeds and compare! I wouldn't be surprised if they are mixes, as the little one is a mix and he's definetly a poof head!

 

[juliechick]

They are mixes. Polish or Spitzhauben.

 

[galanie]

At 8 weeks it's likely a boy with a comb that color and size.

 

[Little Roughian]

know any ways to tell if my little one is a boy or girl?

I've already noticed the comb is pink, not black like moms, but I'm attributing that to the fact its a mix itself.
The two hens are very flighty and aggressive with some of the other hens as they are much bigger. This little one seems to have the same tough little personality. So I keep canceling myself out! Didn't know if anyone could give me tell tale signs!

 

[Little Roughian]

oh darn... i was hoping it was just a goofy looking girl! I'll keep the little one around till he gets to be to naughty then he might have to go live with the in-laws hens. Chickie is quite the character!

 

[hdowden]

the hen appears to be a polish mix she also has leg mites and is the reason her legs look crusty and fat/big.

the other one is a cockerel

 

[Little Roughian]

the hen appears to be a polish mix she also has leg mites and is the reason her legs look crusty and fat/big.

the other one is a cockerel 

How does one take care of these mites? I've officially been around chickens and other fowl about 8 months. These are at a farm I started working for. I've already redone their home, and removed 16 roosters. There was 20 hens. So now I guess I have to learn about everything else!

 

[hdowden]

if they have leg mites you will also need to check the birds over themselves as i have found that if one as leg mites then they usually also tend to have lice/mites on their body which i treat with seven dust 5% if you do see them on the birds skin and/or eggs on the feather shafts you will need to treat everything and get into every nook and cranny (roost nest boxes the ground ect)

as for the leg mites i do the following:
take some vegetable oil and an old toothbrush, dip the toothbrush in the oil and scrub the legs 2-3 times to make sure the oil is getting under the raised scales and do this for at a 1.5-2 weeks once a day, also treat the whole flock if one has them then you can guess that the rest do and its best to treat all of them at the same time.

right now i am battling mites/lice on both legs and the birds and i have been doing that for almost 2-3 months now. they are nasty if they get settled in. they can eventually kill the host bird. on hens/pullets it can completely stop egg production as well as depending on what type of mite/lice it is can cause feather loss, now keep in mind chickens molt so try not to confuse a molt for creepy little bugs.