ALL our birds are now back in the poultry paddock (except the adult geese). Grape and Napoleon had a couple of scraps (each being the ‘male’ and needing to protect their girls) but peace now reigns. It is fabulous to watch them and we do spend certain amounts of time just observing. As the chicks develop, we are starting to look at how many cockerels and hens we may have amongst all the different breeds. With most chickens, it is possible at around five/six weeks to begin to see tell-tale signs: developing combs (bigger in the males), thicker legs (again, thicker in the males), rounded or pointed back feathers (female and male respectively). Young cockerels will often start to ‘behave’ like cockerels too: standing up to each other and strutting around in a very upright stance... Leg colour can be another give away in certain breeds, as of course will be the plumage as the feathering really starts to develop.
A lot at this stage will still be informed guesses although as the first set of Indian Game chicks are now eight weeks old, the plumages are beginning to show here: the males become very black whilst the females remain laced. We are NOT certain but we may have four of each!! The ones in the photo above are only five weeks old and still too young to tell, although the front one and the one at the very back seem to have darker breasts so maybe they will be male???
In the other photos (above and below) we have Queenie and her three Maran chicks (two cockerels and a hen maybe, based on the combs??) and a beautiful turkey poult. Turkeys are much harder to sex until they are around three months old and a lot of it will be on size alone!!! This little one is just four weeks old!!