Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

mambury

cathy wrote: »

kids for chickens!! I think thats a disgraceful thing to even consider,

especially when you could get 3 superman comics and a yo yo for ONE kid

right then, my address is............ :D

KAAT_LADY

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

KAAT - how old is you cockerel He doesn't appear to have much wattle and comb - I'll post a pic of mine (if I can get him to pose) and we can compare

Penny. x

he is only a baby ..12 weeks i think

Penelope_Penguin

KAAT_LADY wrote: »

he is only a baby ..12 weeks i think

OK So you had him sexed at a couple of days old We hatched our own, so couldn't tell the sex until the combs started changing

Penny. x

KAAT_LADY

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

OK So you had him sexed at a couple of days old We hatched our own, so couldn't tell the sex until the combs started changing

Penny. x

He is about 12 weeks now we got him 4 weeks ago ,,,and such a character ,,he stands about 18 '' tall and still growing
:eek:

Laura_D_3

I felt I needed to put my beautiful chucks on as well :j

KAAT_LADY

very nice Laura D ,,what 's the brown one ,, i know the others are silkies

Laura_D_3

KAAT_LADY wrote: »

very nice Laura D ,,what 's the brown one ,, i know the others are silkies

The brown one is my posh buff sussex, my mate bought me her for my birthday as although I really wanted one I was far to stingy to pay £35 :eek: Bless her she came with a hole in her foot so shes not really that posh, but she is the softest of all my chickens and will sit on my lap much like a cat, shes my favourite :j

KAAT_LADY

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

OK So you had him sexed at a couple of days old We hatched our own, so couldn't tell the sex until the combs started changing

Penny. x

My DH has had chickens for years ,,when he was younger and can sex then quite early ,,nothing to do with the combs ,,its to do with the feathers,,i think:D

DON79

Hi, we have four chickens, not had them long, a couple of months got them at about 12-14 weeks old. Now here is our dilemma!!

Our Barred Rock is suspiciously (almost definitely) not a hen and is a cockerel which is not good considering we live in a built up area with other houses left and right and backing onto ours too. So....... should we just hope for the best that he is not really a he and is a she but with largish comb etc??? And that he/she won't crow? He seems to have a lovely collar (not sure right terminology) of feathers developing and tail feathers getting a little longer too.

If it is a cockerel, what are the chances that he won't crow? Would love to keep him but can't really if he crows? He is going to be a gorgeous handsome bird.

Frugaldom

Don79 there isn't a great deal you can do to stop a cockeral crowing but you could shut him in at nights and then not let him out until a sensible, non-court-case-pending time. Just check out the noise abatement laws in your area, as used for things like car horns, ice cream vans, heavy machinery etc and if it's no noise between 9pm and 7am or whatever, then you just keep the cockeral literally in the dark between those hours and explain to all the neighbours what you're doing before anyone gets the chance to jump in and complain. Post a picture of him/her and we can all see what we think. The neck feathers (hackles) will be long and pointed if it's a cockeral whereas the hens' are more rounded at the ends. The cockerals also get the long curved tail feathers and much larger combs and wattles. Here's a good link to feather shape examples - I just checked and it has Barred Rocks listed in the diagrams