Pullet or Cockerel? How to Know

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1 Pullet or Cockerel? How to Know You wanted to raise chickens for eggs and bought some hatching eggs. Or you couldn t resist the fluffy little munchkins at the feed store this spring. In any event you now have chickens growing up in your backyard. You are feeding them and caring for their every need. So what s the problem? Some of the chicks are starting to look different than the others. One or two in particular seem, odd. They better hadn t be roosters! You aren t allowed to keep roosters in your neighborhood. How do you know? Can you tell the difference between pullets and cockerels when they are still growing? Pullet or Cockerel How to Know

2 the Difference There are a few ways to sex chicks and maturing chickens. At hatching the first way that has been used for generations is called vent sexing or the Japanese method. Using this method, you would look inside the tiny vent opening and notice the difference in the cloaca. I have not seen this done but hatcheries use this method with 85 to 90 % accuracy.

3 Another method is wing feather sexing. Using this method you look at the wing feathers of a chick on the first or second day after hatching. Cockerel chickens wing feathers would be all the same length. Pullets wing feathers would be in two layers of different length. A cautionary note on this method. It does not work on all breeds of chickens. Certain breeds such as leghorns have the genetic trait that allows this method to be used. Not all breeds have this trait.

4 Sex Linked Traits For certain genetic pairings, a predictable and identifiable appearance gives a fool proof method of determining sex of the chick. For this method you need to understand that the hen contributes genetic material to the cockerels and the rooster contributes genetic material to the pullets. Any sex linked characteristics will be passed on in this way. Color is one of the sex linked traits. Knowing this, if you mate a hen that carries a sex linked color trait with a rooster that does not carry the trait, the cockerels will have the trait. This makes it easy to separate the pullets at hatching. There are some popular hybrid breeds that utilize this method. Black Stars or Black Sex links are the result of a Barred Rock Hen crossed with a Rhode Island

5 Red Rooster. The cockerels have a white spot on their heads. Red Stars and Golden Comets are two other breeds that are bred for this reason and for increased egg production. Black Star or Black Sex Link Hen If you absolutely cannot have a rooster or don t want to deal with one, buying sex linked breed pullets is your most fool proof method of obtaining pullets. Developing chicks

6 As your chicks develop, you may begin to notice some differences in the growth and characteristics showing up. The cockerels will often hold themselves differently, in a more upright stance. Their feathers will be pointy as compared to the more rounded feather ends of the pullets. The combs and legs will also begin to look different. Combs on a developing cockerel will be darker colored, and larger than the pullets of the same breed. By ten weeks of age, it is fairly certain if you have a developing rooster in the flock. The Crowing and the Egg

7 Of course the final answer to the question comes when you find the egg. Or the morning noon and night crowing that is hard to dispute. Although, hens of some breeds, in the absence of a rooster may take up crowing. One last anecdotal test. I have found that my roosters are often the chicks that were the most easily handled and didn t mind being cuddled. It doesn t last though! Somewhere around 8 months to a year, the hormones fully kick in and the rooster is no longer so cuddly.

8 This post appeared first on Backyard Poultry Magazine.com Chicken Coop Remodeled Chicken Coop Remodel Adding Pullets to the Flock This year, it was time to beef up the egg production in our

9 poultry area. Our hens are welcome to live out their days here with us even when they slow down on production but this can and will cause some issues down the road. As we wanted to add a dozen new hens to the chicken area, we still had 21 birds enjoying life in the palace. Having a recent loss of hens to a fox seriously cut into both our hearts and our fresh eggs, we needed more laying hens for the upcoming year. We do have the space for more, so the question wasn t really if we could house them, it was more of a how could we house them, question. The existing chicken coop is a large converted garden shed. (more on that in this post). The back corner housed the two bantams, a roo and a hen. The new chickens were supposed to be all pullets but one White Rock Rooster slipped in the batch of chicks. This would make three roosters, but I wanted to keep him because I would be able to breed the white rocks at some point.

10 I decided it was time to split the flocks into two batches. TJ Rooster would keep his current hens and the one side of the chicken coop. Little Roo and the new White Rock Roo, named King, would have the other half. I am hoping that since King grows up under Little Roo, they will get along. In addition they would have three bantam hens, the four red mystery hens, four Buff Brahmas, and three White Rock hens. Hens will be rearranged as they mature, if necessary. The first step was to completely empty the chicken coop and start fresh. The existing bantam pen was disassembled and the small isolation coop was removed. I left the small coop outside in the run for the chickens to play in. The coop was swept clean.

11 Now to rebuild the interior. The panels were installed to separate the interior into two separate areas. The height of the area on the left is just under 5 foot tall. This allows me to get into it for cleaning with out having to crawl. The end panel near the large doors opens for ease of cleaning and feeding.

12 The top was put on the interior pen, creating the loft. On top of the pen, empty feed sacks and lots of straw were added to make it soft and cozy for egg laying. Two boxes were added for egg laying, but of course the chickens prefer to lie in between the boxes.

13 Outside, the pen to the left of the big doors was enlarged to give this flock more outside space in a separate run. Partially covered to keep it cooler and shadier, this run is plenty large enough for this flock.

14 The rest of the outside run is still for TJ Roosters flock. They have plenty of space and if necessary, I can separate off a special area for the bantams if Little Roo and King don t get along in the future This is life in our coop with 32 birds! 28 hens, three roosters and one guinea. I like the fact that all of the animal buildings on Timber Creek Farm allow options for expansion or rearrangement when necessary. Its important to always keep your options open! If you are new to chicken keeping you will love my new book, Chickens From Scratch. Its available here in my Timber Creek Farm Shop and on Amazon.

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