Between three birds- Name the Roo? because that is the name

[CabritaChicks]

I do have a life outside of chickens—but honestly, this is pushing my bird brain to its limit. I’m definitely bird-centric, but wow… I need help. There’s only so much training I can do right now, and I have to keep my distance to an extent—because if Roo turns out to really be a roo, he’s going to end up living closer to town at a restaruant who has 20ish chickens 'around'. And the less socialized he is, the better—so he doesn’t end up drop-kicking tourists.

Here are the suspects:


I ended up with three chicks out of the six eggs—hatched right on Easter, all within hours of each other. Three adorable fluffy butts to celebrate the day.

It looks like I’ve got one little roo, fittingly named Roo, who is supposedly a Leghorn mix (at least that’s what I was told). The other two are pullet/chicks—Suki, an Olive Egger mix with cute little muffs, and Sumi, a Marans mix with fuzzy legs who should lay those deep chocolatey eggs as she hatched from.


There were Easter Egger twins in the batch too—real twins—but sadly, they passed late in development. One of the other eggs turned out to be unfertilized. So, three hatched, three didn't. But the three that made it are doing great so far.

Question, am I right to call Roo a roo? because I want him the least socialized so he can mix with the massive flock closer to town. Thanks in advance!

 

[The Moonshiner]

How are you coming to any conclusion that it's a cockerel?

 

[CabritaChicks]

How are you coming to any conclusion that it's a cockerel?

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Great question! I figured the eggs had about a 50/50 chance of making it to hatch day alive—and then, from there, another 50/50 shot of each being a rooster. The two that hatched after Roo seem to have a different wing structure and are feathering out faster in both their wings and tails. Not sure if that actually means anything, but Roo is a total maniac—constantly zooming around and getting into everything.

There was 60 names that some friends kids wrote up- and hubby went a bar in the states- and 'Roo' was one of them- so if that is its name- so be it.

I can sex parrots within hours, no problem—but chickens? I’m completely drawing a blank, haha.

 

[thecatumbrella]

There's no way to tell at this age unless it's a sex-linked breed. I'd give them 3-4 weeks before attempting to guess, and even then, I've had a few pullets with seemingly male traits.

If you really want to know, DNA test! I'll be attempting that myself this weekend on our biggest suspect.

 

[CabritaChicks]

There's no way to tell at this age unless it's a sex-linked breed. I'd give them 3-4 weeks before attempting to guess, and even then, I've had a few pullets with seemingly male traits.

If you really want to know, DNA test! I'll be attempting that myself this weekend on our biggest suspect.

Drawing blood? no problem handle it daily in my workstream. But we have a old sequencer on island so mailing is not really an option without a *shit ton of money and drama- with a license. (and my microscopee is old... I can find anomalies- but dna sequencing? nope- out of my realm).

 

[thecatumbrella]

Drawing blood? no problem handle it daily in my workstream. But we have a old sequencer on island so mailing is not really an option without a *shit ton of money and drama- with a license. (and my microscopee is old... I can find anomalies- but dna sequencing? nope- out of my realm).

Ugh, that's unfortunate. I was actually surprised that the kit I received just needs 1-3 drops on a piece of paper (I'm using DNA Diagnostics Center), so it can ship back in a standard envelope, but I'm guessing that would still be a big to-do for your location.

And hey, just because the roo odds are 50/50 doesn't mean you won't get lucky with all hens. It's pretty crazy that they all look alike despite being different breeds. That will definitely help them to bond quickly (at least in my experience).

 

[The Moonshiner]

Well I asked my dog and his magic 8 ball if they could help...
Their answer was...

 

[CabritaChicks]

Ugh, that's unfortunate. I was actually surprised that the kit I received just needs 1-3 drops on a piece of paper (I'm using DNA Diagnostics Center), so it can ship back in a standard envelope, but I'm guessing that would still be a big to-do for your location.

And hey, just because the roo odds are 50/50 doesn't mean you won't get lucky with all hens. It's pretty crazy that they all look alike despite being different breeds. That will definitely help them to bond quickly (at least in my experience).

The little paper pad you use to collect the blood sample? Yeah—can’t be shipped to where I live. So I’d have to send it to a "friend", who would then forward it to me, and I’d quietly send it out from here (around 15 days). Make sure that yours gets there on time! (used to work in a lab- and handling pracitced were interesting)

We’re treated like second-class citizens out here. No Amazon, can’t register our phone numbers or addresses for things like Adobe., Apple products—just to name a few.