Progeny from heroic rooster

[NatJ]

Slightly off schedule, but the two groups spent a night in adjacent brooders and we'll try uniting some tomorrow. Maybe all depending on how it goes, as they all go to sleep and eat at the same time already, I have a feeling they might not even notice that their numbers have increased. We'll remove the middle wall so they can access everything:

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Sounds promising!

 

[sakerobot]

The introduction went really smooth. The BR rooster jumped in first with the young ones, and they just looked at each other like they've been best friends and carried on.

Before long, we had a small one chasing an older one around to try to take its tomato piece.

The younger ones also gathered under the bigger heating plate that the older ones use.

The BR rooster seems to be growing red wattles already, and the comb is noticeably more prominent than the other two BRs in his age group. Still no tail feathers, and his wing feathers are showing the silvery rooster pattern. It sort of shows in this action picture:

 

[NatJ]

The introduction went really smooth. The BR rooster jumped in first with the young ones, and they just looked at each other like they've been best friends and carried on.

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Before long, we had a small one chasing an older one around to try to take its tomato piece.

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The younger ones also gathered under the bigger heating plate that the older ones use.
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The BR rooster seems to be growing red wattles already, and the comb is noticeably more prominent than the other two BRs in his age group. Still no tail feathers, and his wing feathers are showing the silvery rooster pattern. It sort of shows in this action picture:

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That's great!

I love it when introductions go like that-- when the chickens think it's no big deal, that means it really is no big deal.

 

[sakerobot]

Some contrast pictures of the 2w5d BR patterned chicks:

Suspected rooster:

Vs one of the presumed hens:

And together:

Two of the yellow ones show a stronger comb and tend to act fearless - when we open a brooder door to add food or fix the water, etc, two of them keep running up to the edge along with the BRooster. From looking at Delaware forums, it sounds like combs should help us tell better in maybe 2-3 more weeks.

 

[NatJ]

Some contrast pictures of the 2w5d BR patterned chicks:

Suspected rooster:
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Vs one of the presumed hens:

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And together:
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Two of the yellow ones show a stronger comb and tend to act fearless - when we open a brooder door to add food or fix the water, etc, two of them keep running up to the edge along with the BRooster. From looking at Delaware forums, it sounds like combs should help us tell better in maybe 2-3 more weeks.

I would agree that the one looks more likely to be male than the other, but it's still too early to be sure by comb development.

The extra white on the one does strongly suggest it's a male (two copies of the barring gene). The darker chick probably only has one barring gene, which could mean female (only one Z chromosome to have a barring gene), or it could mean male but the mother had no barring (so the chick got a barring gene from the father but none from the mother. Example: Lavender Orpington mother). Or there's a chance it's just normal variation going to extremes each way, because it's common for some females to be darker or lighter than other females, likewise some males darker or lighter even when they do have the same number of barring genes.

Yes, a few more weeks will probably make a big difference in male vs. female combs and then you can be pretty sure of what you've got.

 

[sakerobot]

I think we can rule out the Lavender Orpington- she started laying small pullet eggs about a week and a half ago that I was able to confirm are hers, they're distinctly smaller than the ones we had in the incubator (some of which would not fit through the gap in the rotating tray on day 18 and had to be manually picked up and replaced).

Today the older ones are three weeks and a day old, out of the yellow ones this one really stands out as a potential rooster candidate:

The features that stand out are: bigger comb than most of the yellow siblings, bigger size than anyone else, noticibly thicker legs, and red wattles seem to be growing. (Not related to gender, but next to each eye there's a black dot, no other sibling has that feature.) By comparison, here's a chick I'd suspect of looking more like a pullet:

And maybe these, except for the BR on the right who keeps looking roostery (and with red in wattles).

That one by the feeder really doesn't appear to show those features.

I was picking several of them up without much commotion, as there are a few that keep running up to me - the BR rooster acts like a puppy, and there's a yellow one with red wattles that's not as big but is curious about everything. The largest one is very brave, but acts more like Arthur - reserved and walking around with authority. When I finally picked that one up, everyone else suddenly froze until I put him back down again.

Among the younger group which will be two weeks tomorrow, the two black ones do not yet have any tail feathers.

 

[sakerobot]

Here's the darker young one, sorry about the mess. The BR hens had their tail feathers much earlier than two weeks. On the other hand, this one's feather pattern seems pretty dark for a rooster, at least so far.

And here's the youngest one with the lighter pattern:

Contrast photo of the two together:

And the youngest one walking away, to show the lack of tail feathers:

While BRs are known for later tail development on the male, and with other breeds it seems the tail grows equally, are there any breeds or genes where the tail feathers could be delayed on the female?

 

[NatJ]

I think we can rule out the Lavender Orpington- she started laying small pullet eggs about a week and a half ago that I was able to confirm are hers, they're distinctly smaller than the ones we had in the incubator (some of which would not fit through the gap in the rotating tray on day 18 and had to be manually picked up and replaced).

Good observation. Yes, I think we can rule her out!

That would mean all the "black" chicks must have Barred Rock mothers. Since the Delaware father also had barring, you can probably sex those chicks the same way you would pure Barred Rocks: females with darker color, males with lighter color (bigger head spot, more white in feathers, lighter feet & shanks.)

Today the older ones are three weeks and a day old, out of the yellow ones this one really stands out as a potential rooster candidate:

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The features that stand out are: bigger comb than most of the yellow siblings, bigger size than anyone else, noticibly thicker legs, and red wattles seem to be growing. (Not related to gender, but next to each eye there's a black dot, no other sibling has that feature.)

I agree, that one does look like a pretty clear male for that age.

By comparison, here's a chick I'd suspect of looking more like a pullet:

I agree that one looks much more feminine, although I wouldn't be entirely sure yet because some male chicks do take a long time to develop any obvious signs.

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And maybe these, except for the BR on the right who keeps looking roostery (and with red in wattles).
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That one by the feeder really doesn't appear to show those features.

I think I'm seeing the same things you see here

I was picking several of them up without much commotion, as there are a few that keep running up to me - the BR rooster acts like a puppy, and there's a yellow one with red wattles that's not as big but is curious about everything. The largest one is very brave, but acts more like Arthur - reserved and walking around with authority. When I finally picked that one up, everyone else suddenly froze until I put him back down again.

That is quite interesting.

While BRs are known for later tail development on the male, and with other breeds it seems the tail grows equally, are there any breeds or genes where the tail feathers could be delayed on the female?

I think there are some where tail feathers can be slow on everyone.

 

[sakerobot]

This is the first BR from the younger batch, just happened to get a few good pictures. While the tail is small, it seemed to be present. Do the feathers look more single barred than double barred? The youngest one (not pictured) is turning out much lighter.

Current age is 2 weeks and 2 days.

 

[NatJ]

This is the first BR from the younger batch, just happened to get a few good pictures. While the tail is small, it seemed to be present. Do the feathers look more single barred than double barred? The youngest one (not pictured) is turning out much lighter.

Current age is 2 weeks and 2 days.

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I'm not very good at telling single-barred from double-barred unless I'm looking at a group and can spot them as lighter and darker next to each other. And sometimes there are in-the-middle ones (the darkest of the double-barred, the lightest of the single-barred).

I think I could see that one going either way, but overall I'm inclined to think it's a male (comb) and that it's double-barred (lighter than some single-barred birds I've seen.) Of course double-barred also means male, so I'm trying to use the comb and the barring to double-check each other, even though neither one seems clear enough for me to be sure.