Hen or Roo dark Brahma?

[Nicole01]

Oh yes, that's a boy too.. Lack of tail feathers is a cockerel trait. I'd be asking for a refund or switch to pullets. I switch my cockerels at the farm store where I buy my chicks. I had it happen once.


My LB was born in the first week of April. This photo was taken last week, she has already laid an egg, which is very early for a brahma.

 

[jmufly]

I called the feed & seed (sorry, I said hatchery before, but I wasn't being accurate) and she said there was no guarantee and there was nothing she could do for me. I mean, seriously... it isn't about the $10 that 3 baby chicks would cost me, it's the principle. Dang and triple dang. The worst part is, she refuses to sell fewer than 6 chicks at a time, but I don't have room for 6 more in the coop.

As I am sitting here wondering how I got 3 out of 4 cockerels (a neighbor and I split 8, avoiding the 6 bird minimum), I am wondering if it had anything to do with my method of choosing them. I stuck my hand in the box of week-old chicks, and selected the ones most unafraid and curious. I am wondering if that was my problem...

 

[Nicole01]

The place I buy chicks has no minimum. They take roosters, cockerels or pullets back at no charge. I can swap if I need to, but they also don't guarantee the chicks. It's a small farm and garden store. I'm assuming you got your bunch from TSC.

You could hatch your own eggs and either eat or re-home the boys. Or Craigslist has chicks for sale, usually straight run. Getting 3 boys from the sexed pullet bin is a bit much. Something is not right.

I'm thinking they added packing peanuts, mistaked pullets for straight run or they had poor sexers at the hatchery.

How disappointing. I'm sorry this happened to you. You do have beautiful birds.

My light brahma wasn't afraid of us right away. The rest were.

 

[jmufly]

It was a local place, http://www.jamestownfeed.com/. I guess I am mostly disappointed in the loss of eggs. Also, living in a suburb, I am not sure that the noise from a roo will be acceptable. I will wait and see. No crowing at all yet. Maybe I got quiet roos

JK. I know better.

Maybe I will try to find some local hens... I'll keep an eye on CL. Is it possible to integrate an adult hen into a flock? My 4 RIRs have not been friendly at all with the new boys/girl.

 

[Nicole01]

You'll probably end up integrating at some point.

What I do is I put a wire dog kennel inside the coop. I wait until the youngest of the new group is fully feathered at around 6 weeks. I put the new bunch in the dog kennel inside the coop as a barrier and they have a chance to get use to each other. I keep them inside the kennel separated until the youngest of the bunch reaches 3-4 months of age or same size, which is about 6-8 weeks. I then put the young bunch on top of the roost.

This has gone very smoothly. I've integrated 2 times and now am on my 3rd round. We originally were going to have 2 hens. We ended up with 3 then 5 more last year equalling 8. I took out two of that flock and added 3 that I bought this past March. Then my neighbor wanted me to hatch chicks for her and she changed her mind once they hatched last week. I have 3 mixed breeds in the house, but I do think I have at least 1-2 boys in the bunch. My kids are attached to the hatched bunch, but I refuse to keep the boys. The rooster was not nice and his mean genes will pass to the boys only. I'll keep the girls and rehome the boys if they seem to be nice. I can not rehome if I know they will attack.

I'll most likely hatch in the future. I'll buy eggs from here or on eBay. I like both crosses and pure bred. We live on 4 acres, so it's in between suburb and country. We are allowed roosters, but I have 2 neighbors who hate chickens.

I've tried talking my husband into moving on a bigger piece of property or a farm, but the housing market to sell is not good. We'd be losing a lot of earned equity on our house, so we will fence our property next year. Maybe I'll get a rooster after we finish fencing.

My neighbor across the street has a rooster and with my windows closed, I can not hear him. He crows all day long I guess. Her last rooster didn't crow as often, but he was mean.

I'm sorry they don't take the chicks back. It's very unusual to get so many boys in sexed bins.

My RIR was pretty mean until she started to lay. I almost rehomed her. I'm glad I didn't! She lays very good eggs! I'd love to have another, but I'm full in my coop. With the 3 downstairs we have 12.

 

[jmufly]

FWIW, I went out there, and sure enough, all 3 of the boys have bumps starting were their spurs will be. Blerg. Thanks so much for your help. It looks like there are some decent choices on CL in the area, so I'll probably get 2 more girls this summer and decide about the boys later.

 

[jmufly]

In retrospect, having three cokerels makes sense of the constant struggle between my light brahma and salmon faverolle. I guess they have been fighting for the number 2 spot since they were pretty little (my dark brahma is much bigger than either, and neither seem to challenge his number one spot). I didn't make anything of this, but now I am a bit worried that this might be problematic if I don't re-home or cull one or the other. The brahma is (obviously) getting pretty huge, but the SF doesn't want to back down. Here is a shot from when they were just about a month old:

 

[Nicole01]

Nice photo!

Good luck deciding which one to keep. They are all nice breeds.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Aw, that picture is soooo cute! Very sorry to hear about getting 3 roos from 4 chicks, I sure would be unhappy too. The store could have at least offered a refund and contacted the hatchery they came from. Wouldn't have solved the problem, but would have soothed a bit more!

 

[popsicle]

As I am sitting here wondering how I got 3 out of 4 cockerels (a neighbor and I split 8, avoiding the 6 bird minimum), I am wondering if it had anything to do with my method of choosing them. I stuck my hand in the box of week-old chicks, and selected the ones most unafraid and curious. I am wondering if that was my problem...

I wouldn't do that next time. They're not like puppies. The confident ones are clearly more likely to be cockerels. Did your neighbor also end up with a bunch of cockerels, and were they chosen the same way?