Sexing Buff Orpingtons

[Tennessee Great Granny]

I've been breeding and raising Buff Orpinton Chickens for a few years now. Some people are really good at sexing the newborns, but others like me can't get the knack or they have something that is a roadblock. I have essential tremors pretty bad. I'd probably seriously injure any baby chick I was trying to sex check. If a person is patient enough and simply watches the suttle changes that are real apparent between genders of their breeds they'll get really good at sexing them at a month or a little older. The males have thicker longer legs (in turkeys too) and they are first to develop any darker red color to their combs. The females often have very pale combs until just before they lay their first egg. Then they turn red but stay smaller than the males. I did have one female who developed very similar to a male with a bigger red comb and she also developed small spurs which she broke off herself when she had a nest full of babies. So she laid eggs, grew small spurs, and never crowed. She raised the biggest batch of babies I ever saw. She would gather as many as she could into one next box and then gather the next batch into another nest box and stayed with the second group. She taught the babies to cuddle huddle to stay warm at night. There were babies under her and on top of her and all throughout her wings. Their mom abandoned the two nests eventually for the big coop at night but her kids stayed in that nursery until their was no room for the hoard of bigger chickens trying to get into the nursery. We finally had to lock the doors up and force them into the main coop, but in the moving I sold the 17 males. Her daughters and a few daughters of the aunts are our main flock now. We had 2 pit bulls chew through steel fencing and we only have two females of our original flock that survived and most of the younger faster ones. We are reinforcing with cattle panels all round the perimeter of the fence and fastening down the fence everywhere with metal wire instead of zip ties. Sometimes hens without a rooster will have a dominant hen who crows, it's not as good as a rooster's crow but she'll crow anyway. It's a female dominance thing. If a male is introduced she usually stops crowing and pays attention to the male. Having a rooster also stops the hens from fighting as much and being so crabby but that in itself is no guarantee concerning pecking order squabbles. The males develop big wattles and their cape feathers start turning glossy and that's when crowing is about to start I noticed when the combs starts getting redder and a little bigger they often will start eating a whole lot more. Most roosters will allow the females first crack at food but the males- when they are going through their puberty growth spurt- will often get first to the food and eat ravenously. Once they start crowing it starts to slow down. When a male starts to crow depends upon exposure to other males. If from a young age they crow earlier. If there is no other male setting an example they are delayed, but they'll still get there. I'm having surgery soon. I am hoping to recover in time to revamp my 3 nursery areas within our new security run. I love the ecoflex jumbo fontina. It's cheaper and faster than creating my own. I have the big coops for our older birds but momma needs privacy and safety. I do make areas around the door a bit more secure than it comes, but I have had two batches of babies become orphans when mom died saving their chicks. Security first. Thick 1/2' mesh surrounding smaller pens within the pens and the nursery in the middle. A cement platform is added for ease in setting down their baby feeders over the fencing and a hanging waterer so they can't climb in it and drown using a shepherds hook plant hanger. When it's really cold the mommas come out with babies under her wings and body staying warm. Every now and then a baby will climb out to eat or drink and run back to momma. I use garden fabric staples every few inches to keep the fence down but under the entire edge of the fencing is more fencing flat on the ground extending out both sides of the fence. Baby chicks love to dig and scratch and they will dig a hole under any fence to get to the woods out back. Very dangerous for naughty babies. Rat snakes live out there in the leaves just waiting for them. I tried telling them the boogie man lives in the woods but they don't listen to Granny. So far they have been safe with this method.

 

[Winderdear]

I've been breeding and raising Buff Orpinton Chickens for a few years now. Some people are really good at sexing the newborns, but others like me can't get the knack or they have something that is a roadblock. I have essential tremors pretty bad. I'd probably seriously injure any baby chick I was trying to sex check. If a person is patient enough and simply watches the suttle changes that are real apparent between genders of their breeds they'll get really good at sexing them at a month or a little older. The males have thicker longer legs (in turkeys too) and they are first to develop any darker red color to their combs. The females often have very pale combs until just before they lay their first egg. Then they turn red but stay smaller than the males. I did have one female who developed very similar to a male with a bigger red comb and she also developed small spurs which she broke off herself when she had a nest full of babies. So she laid eggs, grew small spurs, and never crowed. She raised the biggest batch of babies I ever saw. She would gather as many as she could into one next box and then gather the next batch into another nest box and stayed with the second group. She taught the babies to cuddle huddle to stay warm at night. There were babies under her and on top of her and all throughout her wings. Their mom abandoned the two nests eventually for the big coop at night but her kids stayed in that nursery until their was no room for the hoard of bigger chickens trying to get into the nursery. We finally had to lock the doors up and force them into the main coop, but in the moving I sold the 17 males. Her daughters and a few daughters of the aunts are our main flock now. We had 2 pit bulls chew through steel fencing and we only have two females of our original flock that survived and most of the younger faster ones. We are reinforcing with cattle panels all round the perimeter of the fence and fastening down the fence everywhere with metal wire instead of zip ties. Sometimes hens without a rooster will have a dominant hen who crows, it's not as good as a rooster's crow but she'll crow anyway. It's a female dominance thing. If a male is introduced she usually stops crowing and pays attention to the male. Having a rooster also stops the hens from fighting as much and being so crabby but that in itself is no guarantee concerning pecking order squabbles. The males develop big wattles and their cape feathers start turning glossy and that's when crowing is about to start I noticed when the combs starts getting redder and a little bigger they often will start eating a whole lot more. Most roosters will allow the females first crack at food but the males- when they are going through their puberty growth spurt- will often get first to the food and eat ravenously. Once they start crowing it starts to slow down. When a male starts to crow depends upon exposure to other males. If from a young age they crow earlier. If there is no other male setting an example they are delayed, but they'll still get there. I'm having surgery soon. I am hoping to recover in time to revamp my 3 nursery areas within our new security run. I love the ecoflex jumbo fontina. It's cheaper and faster than creating my own. I have the big coops for our older birds but momma needs privacy and safety. I do make areas around the door a bit more secure than it comes, but I have had two batches of babies become orphans when mom died saving their chicks. Security first. Thick 1/2' mesh surrounding smaller pens within the pens and the nursery in the middle. A cement platform is added for ease in setting down their baby feeders over the fencing and a hanging waterer so they can't climb in it and drown using a shepherds hook plant hanger. When it's really cold the mommas come out with babies under her wings and body staying warm. Every now and then a baby will climb out to eat or drink and run back to momma. I use garden fabric staples every few inches to keep the fence down but under the entire edge of the fencing is more fencing flat on the ground extending out both sides of the fence. Baby chicks love to dig and scratch and they will dig a hole under any fence to get to the woods out back. Very dangerous for naughty babies. Rat snakes live out there in the leaves just waiting for them. I tried telling them the boogie man lives in the woods but they don't listen to Granny. So far they have been safe with this method.

Thank you for sharing so much of your wisdom and experience! I hope your surgery goes well and you can tackle all the projects you plan to do after recovering